Governor Katie Hobbs announced Thursday that her office has awarded $15.6 million to four grid-resilience projects across Arizona that will directly benefit customers in the Tucson region. The four awards will be matched by recipient cost shares to generate about $27 million in total investment aimed at reducing outages, lowering costs and limiting wildfire risk.
The awards, made through the Governor’s Office of Resiliency’s Arizona Grid Resilience Grant Program, are expected to benefit more than 1.6 million utility customers and to specifically reduce outages for nearly 290,000 customers. Officials say the projects will cut wildfire risk by about 20% in the regions targeted by wildfire mitigation efforts, extend equipment lifespan and improve the grid’s ability to withstand extreme weather.
“I’m investing in Arizona’s affordable energy future and strengthening our energy system, because it’s critical to the success of our families and businesses,” Hobbs said. “These projects will significantly boost grid reliability, decrease power outages, reduce wildfire and extreme weather risks, and lower costs for Arizonans.”
One of the four projects funded under the Arizona Grid Resilience Grant Program is a Wildfire Mitigation and Grid Resilience Project that pairs Trico Electric Cooperative with Navopache and Sulphur Springs Valley cooperatives. Trico serves tens of thousands of customers in and around northwest Tucson — including Marana, Sahuarita, Green Valley and parts of the Tucson metro — and the grant-funded work is intended to cut both the frequency and duration of outages for those members.
What Tucson-area customers can expect
- Fewer wildfire ignitions from grid equipment: the project funds fuse upgrades designed to reduce the odds that electrical equipment will spark fires in vulnerable landscapes.
- Faster fault detection and restoration: deployment of drones and enhanced fault-location tools will speed crews’ ability to pinpoint and repair problems, reducing outage times for households and businesses.
- Fewer animal-caused outages: installation of animal-protection materials on lines and equipment will reduce interruptions caused by wildlife, a common source of outages in rural and suburban fringes.
- Longer-lived equipment and lower long-term costs: hardening and modernization investments are expected to extend equipment life and help blunt future rate pressure from repeated repairs and emergency replacements.
For Trico members, the upgrades should be most noticeable during high‑wind, lightning or other extreme‑weather events and during Arizona’s fire season, when reduced ignition risk and quicker diagnostics translate directly into fewer and shorter interruptions for homes, schools, health-care facilities and businesses on the cooperative’s network.
Why it matters For Tucson? For area residents who have experienced multi-hour or multi-day outages in recent years, the combination of targeted equipment upgrades, better detection tools and protections against animal-related damage could mean more reliable power and fewer disruptions to daily life and commerce. State officials also said the investments will help planners make better future decisions about grid resilience and reduce pressures on customers’ bills over time by avoiding repeated emergency repairs.
The four awarded projects include a mix of investor-owned utilities and electric cooperatives, so both urban and rural communities will see direct benefits:
Rural Arizona Cooperative Grid Hardening Project — A collaboration among Mohave Electric Cooperative, Duncan Valley Electric Cooperative and Graham County Electric Cooperative to underground electrical equipment, replace or reconductor older lines, upgrade poles with more durable materials and otherwise harden infrastructure against severe weather and other threats.
SAGUARO (Strengthening Arizona’s Grid Utilizing Advanced Resilience Operations) — Led by Arizona Public Service, this project emphasizes advanced monitoring and real-time information relays for first responders, grid hardening and outfitting wooden poles with fire mesh. APS said the work will expand its use of AI smoke-detection cameras and improve outage response.
Ligurta Substation Modernization Project — Run by the Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District, this effort will modernize substation monitoring and control systems, upgrade circuit breakers and strengthen local distribution to support economic stability in the region.
Wildfire Mitigation and Grid Resilience Project — A joint effort by Navopache Electric Cooperative, Trico Electric Cooperative and Sulphur Springs Valley Electric Cooperative that includes fuse upgrades to reduce wildfire ignitions, installation of animal-protection equipment and the use of drones to speed fault detection and location.
The governor’s office said it plans to pursue additional rounds of Grid Resilience grants as federal funding becomes available, with the aim of expanding similar protections to other vulnerable parts of the state.
