Phoenix, Ariz.— On August 26, 2025, the Arizona Corporation Commission hosted a Natural Gas Infrastructure and Storage Workshop to discuss the need to expand natural gas infrastructure in Arizona.

Vice Chair Nick Myers opened docket G-00000A-25-0029 in February of this year and organized the workshop to discuss 1) the status of gas infrastructure and storage in Arizona; 2) the growing demand for natural gas by utilities and the business community; 3) ongoing and planned natural gas projects in Arizona, and 4) market and regulatory updates related to the expansion of natural gas infrastructure.

“Expanding natural gas infrastructure in the state is critical to ensuring Arizona’s energy reliability into the future,” stated Vice Chair Myers, “With upcoming generation retirements, increasing reliance on intermittent resources, and the surge in demand from data centers and industry, it’s clear that firm natural gas capacity is essential. Addressing our current supply constraints is not just a challenge—it’s an opportunity to secure our energy future.”

The workshop included presentations by the American Gas Association (AGA), the National Energy Dominance Council (NEDC), and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Arizona utilities emphasized the critical need for additional natural gas infrastructure in the state to maintain grid reliability and meet the growing energy demand of their customers, including Arizona Public Service Company (APS), Salt River Project (SRP), Tucson Electric Power (TEP), UniSource (UNS), Arizona Electric Power Cooperative (AEPCO), and Southwest Gas Corporation (SWG).

Ongoing and planned natural gas projects in Arizona were also discussed by Transwestern Pipeline, Kinder Morgan, Tallgrass Energy, and Grupo CLISA. The Commission also heard presentations from additional stakeholders from Arizona and neighboring states, including Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Western Resource Advocates, and Western States and Tribal Nations Energy Initiative.

The all-day workshop provided in-depth discussion and lively debate, with many highlights worth noting: 

• Brittany Kelm from President Trump’s National Energy Dominance Council (NEDC) affirmed NEDC’s “love” for Arizona and that they are “here and at your service” in navigating federal agencies to get energy projects completed in Arizona.  

• Danny Seiden, President and CEO of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry, thanked the Commission for leading this important conversation in the state and affirmed that Arizona’s business community is united in support of what the ACC is doing. Power and grid reliability, including expanding natural gas infrastructure and storage, are not only key in attracting commerce and industry to Arizona, but are important to our national security.    

• APS, SRP, TEP, and UNS explained that 45% of Arizona’s electricity is generated from natural gas, and that existing natural gas pipelines are 100% subscribed. To meet the unprecedented rise in energy demand (e.g., APS forecasts 40% load growth by 2035), “additional pipelines are needed to serve Arizona power plants and maintain reliability in all seasons.”

• APS, SRP, TEP, and UNS discussed their recently announced commitment to Transwestern Pipeline’s Desert Southwest Expansion Project, which is expected to transport up to 1.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day from the Permian Basin in West Texas to Arizona by late 2029.
  • According to Transwestern, the project will create up to 5,000 construction jobs and will provide $12.5 million in additional property taxes and sales tax revenues to local communities during construction in Cochise, Graham, and Pinal counties.
• APS emphasized that “[d]ispatchable, flexible natural gas plays a vital role in providing power for customers, especially when intermittent resources, such as solar and wind, are not available and batteries are depleted.”
  • For example, APS explained that due to the storm on Monday, August 25, 2025, in the Phoenix area, APS lost 1,000 MW of solar output between 3-4pm, but it was able to maintain grid reliability because of its natural gas turbines that were quickly ramped up to meet the need. 
• SRP asserted that “[n]atural gas will continue to play a critical role, providing firm capacity to maintain reliability and affordability,” and discussed it plans to increase its natural gas generation with the Coolidge Expansion Project (2026-2027) and the Coronado Generating Station conversion from coal to gas (2030).

• TEP explained its plans to repower Springerville Generating Station from coal to gas (2029) and UNSE’s expansion of Black Mountain Generating Station with 200 MW of new natural gas peaking (2028) to reduce summer capacity purchases.
  • TEP explained the cost savings with repowering Springerville: capital costs to convert to gas ($170 million), retaining coal generation ($450 million), a new combined cycle ($1.5 billion), and solar + storage ($4.5 billion).  
• SWG presented on its Precedent Agreement to be a shipper on the recently announced Transwestern Pipeline Desert Southwest Expansion Project and on the ongoing development of El Paso Natural Gas (EPNG) Maricopa Lateral Expansion Project, which will provide SWG with 50,517 Dth/day of firm transportation capacity into Phoenix.

• Kinder Morgan discussed its Arizona Energy Storage (AES), which consists of 4Bcf of total working storage in 4 bedded salt storage caverns south of Eloy, Arizona. The company is in the process of updating its costs and schedule to discuss with customers in Q4 of 2025.   
  • APS, SRP, TEP, UNS, AEPCO, and SWG all expressed support for exploring the AES storage project, provided its cost effective for their customers.  
• Tallgrass discussed its Greenview project, which is hydrogen-ready, and is expected to be completed by end of 2027. 

• Grupo CLISA, a Mexico-based company, presented on its Yuma Project which will originate in either Quartzsite or Buckeye at an interconnection with Kinder Morgan’s El Paso Natural Gas and will cross the US/Mexico border near San Luis, Arizona near the city of Yuma. The estimated in-service date is Q2 2029.      

• FERC discussed multiple gas permitting updates, like FERC pausing Order No. 871 and its temporary waiver of blanket certificate cost limits, which will help facilitate the expansion of natural gas infrastructure and storage throughout the country. Also, recent executive orders and court rulings have eliminated the need for environmental justice reviews, social cost of carbon calculations, and relying on or citing regulations from the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) when FERC evaluates natural gas projects. The One Beautiful Bill Act amended the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), providing the option for applicants to expedite FERC’s processing of their NEPA documents.

“I’m very pleased with today’s discussion and grateful to everyone who participated. Expanding natural gas infrastructure is essential to securing Arizona’s long-term energy reliability,” concluded Vice Chair Myers. “Today’s workshop reinforced my belief that we are moving in the right direction.”  

For those unable to attend, the workshop can be viewed in its entirety on the Commission’s website. Presentations by utilities and stakeholders can be found here.

For more information, please contact Vice Chair Myers at myers-web@azcc.gov.