This part of Arizona is just north of Lake Havasu (a reservoir on the Colorado River). Summer highs average 109 degrees (hottest days are 120+), nighttime lows

This part of Arizona is just north of Lake Havasu (a reservoir on the Colorado River). Summer highs average 109 degrees (hottest days are 120+), nighttime lows average 85 degrees - so people need to run their air conditioning units after the sun goes down. Adding to the duck curve with more solar panels won't provide power for overnight use of AC systems. The proposed gas plant is a 98MW gas peaker turbine. The alternative to gas peaker plants for this part of Arizona are pumped hydro and 'cold storage', where AC systems are run during off-peak hours to build up a reservoir of cold. The Salt River Project (Arizona water/power company) is building a new pumped hydro facility, with a new reservoir uphill from Apache Lake (east of Phoenix): https://www.srpnet.com/grid-water-management/grid-management/improvement-projects/pumped-storage-project https://www.srpnet.com/grid-water-management/grid-management... Downtown Phoenix has an 'ice storage' system that generates cold water using off-peak power, and uses this to cool ~40 buildings during the hottest part of the day: https://kjzz.org/content/527332/district-energy-system-under-downtown-phoenix-cools-more-40-buildings https://kjzz.org/content/527332/district-energy-system-under... / https://www.nrg.com/insights/innovation/nrg-energy-center-phoenix-an-oasis-in-the-desert.html https://www.nrg.com/insights/innovation/nrg-energy-center-ph... Surely there's an opportunity for pumped storage somewhere on the Central Arizona Project, which starts at Lake Havasu (738' elevation) and deposits its water at Lake Pleasant (1700' elevation): https://www.cap-az.com/ https://www.cap-az.com/