PHOENIX — Salt River Project (SRP) has launched its first owned and operated solar facility, which will provide enough solar energy to power 11,000 Arizona homes in a year and will help with research for effective and advanced solar technology.

The Copper Crossing Energy and Research Center (CCERC) PV Solar Project uses three different types of photovoltaic panels, and SRP will work to determine which panels are the most durable, perform best under different weather conditions and provide the highest and most consistent output, according to a press release.

The project is located in Florence, Arizona, and has sky cameras that help SRP more accurately estimate cloud cover to improve forecasting for solar production.

“The SRP-owned solar project at Copper Crossing will be part of delivering reliable, affordable power to customers in time for what we expect will be record demand this summer,” Bobby Olsen, SRP associate general manager and chief power system executive, said in the release. “This facility gives us the opportunity to support customer needs for reliable, affordable energy while continuing to refine these benefits at a scale that will translate to future deployments in the field and in the operating centers.”

SRP has a goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. To do that, the utility company wants to “at least double its generation capacity” to be able to meet the projected demand of energy over the next 10 years with reliability, affordability and sustainability, the release said.

SRP also plans in the same time period to add natural gas, renewable and storage resources, which will include pumped hydro.