Growth of the power system
Early on, SRP saw the power business as a way to match need with opportunity.
In 1909, a hydroelectric generator at the Theodore Roosevelt Dam site was built to run
construction facilities, and excess electricity was sold to nearby copper mines and to farms
in the Valley. Initially, only 13 customers were served by the small hydroelectric plant.
But the copper industry expanded, the Valley grew and SRP extended its power service.
In the 1920s, three more hydroelectric dams were built
below Roosevelt at Horse Mesa and Stewart Mountain.
By 1928, SRP was stringing a local electric delivery system that resulted in the electrification
of the Valley's rural areas nearly 10 years before the National Rural Electrification Act brought
power to the rest of rural America.
In 1936, the Arizona Legislature amended a law allowing formation of agricultural improvement
districts - government units that can finance improvements with tax-free bonds. And the
Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District was created.
After World War II, SRP built three steam-generating plants in the Phoenix area to keep pace
with growth, and also joined other utilities in a 2,650-mile transmission system across the
Southwest that enables delivery of electricity to the Valley from power plants throughout the region.
In the early 1970s, SRP was selected to build and operate the Navajo Generating Station in Page on
behalf of a consortium of other utilities and the U.S. Department of the Interior.
In 1975, SRP began construction on the Coronado Generating Station in St. Johns, and joined with
Arizona Public Service and other utilities in the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station west of Phoenix.
