Our Energy Mix
Tucson Electric Power is making progress toward a cleaner, greener grid by expanding our use of wind and solar energy and reducing our reliance on fossil fuels without compromising on affordability or reliability. We also help our customers connect private solar power systems that make our local energy mix even cleaner. This page provides details about our energy mix based on our most recent annual production data and the projections we use to plan for the future.
In 2023, 20 percent of the power that TEP provided to customers came from clean, renewable energy resources, as shown in the following illustration.
2023 TEP Energy Mix
Includes 9,795 Gigawatt-Hours (GWh) Delivered by TEP
*Energy purchased from wholesale providers is typically – but not always – from natural gas-fired generators.
If you include energy from private solar arrays – adding their output to both total production and total energy use – 27 percent of our community’s power came from clean energy resources in 2023. This is shown in the following illustration.
2023 Total Local Energy Mix
Includes 9,795 GWh Delivered by TEP + 797 GWh Produced by Private Solar Arrays
*Energy purchased from wholesale providers is typically – but not always – from natural gas-fired generators.
We’re on track to achieve the targets identified in TEP’s 2023 Integrated Resource Plan, which outlines our plans for meeting customers’ energy needs through 2038. By then, we will have long since retired our remaining coal-fired resources, and more than half our power will come from renewable energy resources.
Our projected 2038 TEP Energy Mix is shown in the following illustration.
Projected 2038 TEP Energy Mix
*Energy purchased from wholesale providers is typically – but not always – from natural gas-fired generators
Our community’s total energy mix in 2038 will include an even higher percentage of renewable power, with the final level being determined by how much capacity our customers install over the next 15 years.
To achieve these clean energy levels, TEP plans to build 2,240 megawatts (MW) of new wind and solar power systems and 1,300 MW of new energy storage systems over the next 15 years. We’ll also need at least 400 MW of new natural gas generation to help offset the retirement of our remaining coal-fired power plants by 2032.
We’ll also need to upgrade our transmission and distribution system to serve anticipated population and economic growth, while also ensuring our system is ready to accommodate additional customer-owned solar arrays, electric vehicles, battery energy storage systems and any growing energy needs of new technologies.
Net Zero Goal
In 2023, we announced that TEP is working toward achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
We’ve already made significant progress toward this aspirational goal. Between 2020 and 2022, our CO2 emissions dropped 32 percent thanks to coal plant retirements and 480 MW of new wind, solar and storage projects. Our ongoing investments in clean energy will help us achieve an 80 percent reduction in CO2 emissions by 2038, compared to 2005 levels.
Achieving our goal will depend in part on advances in technology that could make it possible to provide reliable electric service without conventional resources. There’s also a possibility that carbon removal or other offsets could be part of the picture in 2050.
We’ll also need help from our customers, through energy efficiency programs and other efforts that reduce consumption during peak usage periods. Want to help? Learn how you can become a Net Zero Hero.
A Sustainable Balance
Our community needs a diverse energy mix to maintain reliable, affordable electric service. It’s not yet possible to provide 100 percent clean energy, due to the intermittent nature of wind and solar power and the physical requirements of operating an electric grid.
Renewable energy is abundant, affordable, and emission-free – all good reasons why TEP is working to use more and more of it. But it’s not reliable, particularly over extended periods of time, and reliability is absolutely necessary to electric service.
To compensate for this shortcoming, TEP and other utilities are building energy storage systems to support greater use of renewable resources over time. But we’ll also need more conventional resources in the near term to support electrification and economic growth. And grid operators will continue to need at least some fossil-fueled resources to maintain stable voltage and reliable energy service, at least until technology advances.
Providers who promise customers 100 percent clean energy right now, including those in Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) systems or restructured electric markets, can only do so in a legal or contractual sense. Their customers, including some municipalities, still depend on conventional resources connected to their local energy grid for reliable power.
TEP also provides customers with opportunities to purchase a supply of 100 percent renewable energy, including through our flexible, affordable GoSolar Shares program. While customers who purchase clean energy still rely on conventional resources for reliability, their payments cover the full cost of that service and support local investments in clean energy resources that serve our entire community.
This page includes details about all the energy we deliver to all our customers, including those who have contracted to purchase renewable energy for themselves. That's why these figures may differ from the energy mix information we provide to customers who purchase or inquire about a clean energy supply. To ensure that the energy they're buying isn't also being counted for others, we provide them with contractual energy mix reports that remove renewable resources dedicated to serve other customers.