Pinal County Approves 400 MW Valley Farms Battery Storage Project Near Coolidge

August 28, 2026

Pinal County is quickly becoming one of Arizona’s most important energy infrastructure corridors.

On July 1, 2026, the Pinal County Board of Supervisors voted 4–0 to approve the land-use changes needed for the proposed Valley Farms Energy Center, a large-scale battery storage facility southeast of Coolidge. One supervisor was absent from the vote.

The approval reverses the county’s 2025 rejection of a larger version of the project and allows developer Valley Farms Energy Center LLC, a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources, to move forward with additional site planning, studies and permitting.

Valley Farms Energy Center at a Glance

Location: Northwest corner of East Bartlett and North Clemans roads, approximately four miles southeast of Coolidge
Project area: 68.77 acres
Battery footprint: Approximately 20 acres
Output capacity: Up to 400 megawatts
Estimated energy capacity: Approximately 1,600 megawatt-hours
Estimated duration: Roughly four hours at full output
Developer: NextEra Energy Resources subsidiary
Estimated investment: Approximately $600 million
Estimated construction jobs: Approximately 300
Estimated tax revenue: Approximately $9 million
Construction timeline: Approximately 14 months
Target operation: Before summer 2028

The current design reportedly calls for just under 400 containerized battery units initially. Additional units could be added over time to offset normal battery degradation and maintain the facility’s contracted output.

What Does a 400 MW Battery Facility Actually Do?

Valley Farms will not generate electricity.

Instead, it will charge from the electrical grid when power is more readily available and discharge that electricity when demand is highest. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, grid-scale batteries can help utilities balance supply and demand, respond quickly to changes in grid conditions and move electricity from lower-demand periods to peak hours.

Salt River Project has already entered into an energy storage agreement connected to Valley Farms. Electrical District No. 2, the public power utility serving the Coolidge area, has also secured the option to purchase a portion of the stored power at the wholesale rate negotiated by SRP.

That local arrangement was an important change from the 2025 proposal. Some Coolidge officials had questioned why their community should accept another energy facility if most of the benefits flowed elsewhere.

Why the Project Was Controversial

The approval came despite opposition from:

The City of Coolidge
The neighboring property owner
Several nearby residents
The Pinal County Planning and Zoning Commission, which recommended denial by a 6–3 vote

Although the property is in unincorporated Pinal County, it sits within Coolidge’s broader planning area. The city’s general plan identifies the surrounding area for future business, commercial and neighborhood development rather than industrial power infrastructure.

Residents and city representatives raised concerns about:

Battery fires and thermal runaway
Smoke and potential groundwater contamination
Emergency-response capacity
Construction traffic and rural road damage
Water used for dust control
Operational noise
The visual impact on surrounding farms and homes
Compatibility with Coolidge’s future growth plans
The number of permanent jobs created after construction

The developer estimates operating sound levels of approximately 60 to 65 decibels at the property line. Construction is expected to require between 30 and 50 acre-feet of water, primarily for dust control.

How NextEra Changed the Proposal

This was NextEra’s second attempt to develop the property.

The original proposal covered approximately 160 acres and combined solar generation with battery storage. The Board of Supervisors rejected that plan in April 2025.

The revised proposal made several significant changes:

Original Proposal	Revised Proposal
160-acre project	68.77-acre project
Approximately 80 acres of solar panels	No solar generation
Approximately 80-acre battery area	Approximately 20-acre battery area
Extended to Malorie Road	Set back more than 500 feet from Malorie Road
Overlapped the planned North-South Corridor area	Moved outside the corridor area
No boundary wall	10-foot opaque wall along the northern boundary

NextEra also committed to mature trees along the northern boundary, large oleanders along the remaining sides and additional visual screening around the facility.

Those changes persuaded all three supervisors who opposed the original proposal to support the revised version.

Fire Safety Remains an Important Question

Battery energy storage facilities present different risks than traditional power plants or ordinary building fires.

NextEra representatives told county officials that the proposed containers would include temperature monitoring, automatic isolation, pressure-relief systems and approximately 10 feet of separation between individual units. Groups of containers would be separated by larger fire breaks.

The company also described a response strategy focused on monitoring the affected container, protecting adjacent equipment and allowing the damaged unit to burn out rather than applying water directly to it. The site would be monitored remotely 24 hours a day, and NextEra has said it will train local fire departments before operations begin.

For readers looking for more technical context, UL 9540A is the national testing method used to evaluate thermal-runaway propagation, heat release, vent gases and the potential for fire to spread between battery units.

The important question is not simply whether battery storage is “safe” or “dangerous.” The real due-diligence questions include:

Which equipment and battery chemistry will be installed?
What did large-scale fire testing show?
Are the proposed separation distances supported by that testing?
Which fire agency will be responsible for the site?
What training and equipment will first responders receive?
How will smoke, runoff and damaged batteries be managed after an incident?

At the July hearing, NextEra said it was still discussing fire-service arrangements with local and regional departments.

Why County Leaders Supported the Project

Supporters focused on four major benefits.

Grid Reliability

SRP argued that Arizona needs storage capable of supplying power during extreme summer demand. Valley Farms is intended to charge when electricity is more plentiful and deliver up to 400 megawatts when the grid needs it most.

Local Economic Benefits

NextEra currently estimates the project will represent approximately $600 million in investment, create around 300 construction jobs and generate roughly $9 million in tax revenue.

The developer also committed to a $600,000 community fund through its agreement with SRP. Initial possibilities identified by Coolidge include a mobile generator for the city’s adult center—which also serves as an emergency shelter—and lighting at a regional park.

Arizona-Made Batteries

NextEra told supervisors that it plans to use LG batteries manufactured in Pinal County. LG Energy Solution is developing a major battery manufacturing complex in Queen Creek that includes a facility for energy-storage batteries.

Home Ladder previously covered the broader economic importance of the LG Energy Solution development in Queen Creek.

Property Rights and Agricultural Water

The Wuertz family, which owns the property, argued that declining water availability has made it increasingly difficult to farm consistently. The family will retain and continue farming surrounding acreage while selling the Valley Farms site for energy development.

County supervisors cited the landowner’s right to sell the property as one factor supporting approval.

This Approval Is Not the Final Step

The zoning vote does not make Valley Farms shovel-ready.

NextEra must still obtain county approval for its final site plan and supporting technical studies. The company must also submit a final decommissioning plan and provide financial assurances to cover removal of the facility at the end of its useful life.

The current decommissioning estimate is approximately $15.71 million, with complete removal expected to take about one year.

Construction is expected to take approximately 14 months once the remaining approvals and permits are issued. NextEra hopes to finish construction during 2027 and have the facility supplying power before summer 2028.

Part of a Much Larger Pinal County Energy Pipeline

Valley Farms is only one of several battery projects recently approved or advanced across Pinal County:

Copper Basin Energy Storage — A 250 MW / 2,000 MWh battery project approved near San Tan Valley.
Samba Energy Center — A proposed 650 MW, four-hour battery facility in Casa Grande that received conditional-use approval and still requires a formal site plan.
Copper Crossing Energy and Research Center — Two five-megawatt, 10-hour non-lithium battery pilot projects planned at SRP’s research site in Florence.
Ore Town Solar Project — A 145 MW solar facility paired with 145 MW of battery storage, approved by Pinal County on August 5, 2026.

These projects are not all at the same stage. Some have received only zoning or land-use approval, while others still require site plans, utility infrastructure, financing and construction permits.

Approval should therefore be viewed as an important milestone—not a guarantee that every proposed project will be built.

What This Means for Arizona Real Estate Investors

Energy capacity is an important prerequisite for growth, but it does not create housing demand by itself.

Battery storage can help utilities serve:

New residential development
Manufacturing plants
Industrial parks
Data centers
Commercial development
A growing population during periods of extreme demand

However, Valley Farms should not be treated like a major employment announcement. The developer’s published job estimate is primarily for construction, and the number of permanent on-site jobs has not been publicly quantified.

For real estate investors, the more meaningful signal is the combination of:

Utility capacity
Confirmed employer expansion
Transportation investment
Water availability
Housing permits
Population growth
Actual rental absorption

Home Ladder’s earlier review of Pinal County’s multifamily and housing pipeline provides additional context on how infrastructure, employment and new housing supply are converging across the county.

Investors considering property near Coolidge should also follow the latest Coolidge sales and rental market data rather than assuming a large infrastructure approval will automatically increase rents or property values.

Bottom Line

The Valley Farms approval is a meaningful regional infrastructure signal—but it is not yet a completed project, a major permanent employer or a guarantee of real estate appreciation.

The revised proposal is substantially smaller than the version rejected in 2025, eliminates the solar component, avoids the planned North-South Corridor and provides more setbacks and visual screening. It also offers more direct benefits to Coolidge through Electrical District No. 2 access and a $600,000 community fund.

At the same time, legitimate questions remain about construction impacts, fire-service arrangements, long-term operations and compatibility with surrounding properties.

For Pinal County investors, the takeaway is not simply that “more power means higher property values.” It is that the county is building the utility backbone needed to compete for future housing and employment growth. Whether that growth reaches a specific property will still depend on jobs, water, roads, housing supply and actual market demand.