One of the fastest-growing US markets, on abundant land, strong solar and a pro-build posture. Phoenix overtook Dallas and Silicon Valley on inventory in 2025. The clearest US momentum riser after Texas.
See live grid data →Moderate, improving access: Arizona utilities are accommodating large load and building fast.
Moderate availability: solar plus gas, with batteries increasingly covering the evening peak.
Low-to-mid cost.
Very high momentum: a top inventory-growth market with a deep pipeline.
Carbon moderate (~200 g), solar-heavy by day.
Average customer interruption (SAIDI) of 67.88 minutes per year in 2024, excluding major event days as filed.
The market figure above is an average across these territories. A project sits in one of them, not in the average. Each row is that operator’s own filed record; once a candidate site is matched to a territory, that row is the evidence that applies to it.
| Territory operator | SAIDI min/yr | Customers | Major-event method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona Public Service Co (AZ) | 80.86 | 1,395,614 | IEEE 1366 |
| Salt River Project (AZ) | 52.81 | 1,161,925 | IEEE 1366 |
| Tucson Electric Power Co (AZ) | 68.36 | 455,579 | IEEE 1366 |
| UNS Electric, Inc (AZ) | 60.13 | 106,739 | IEEE 1366 |
Filed to EIA Form 861 for 2024, excluding major event days. Territory-wide averages: see the layer note above for what they do not establish.
Phoenix and the desert Southwest face extreme summer cooling peaks that strain supply; utilities have managed them so far, but heat-driven peak stress is the standing forward risk.
What this means: A large new load faces occasional exposure here. Monitor conditions and keep a contingency plan.
modelled
We have not compiled what firm service actually promises here: whether it is firm, non-firm or interruptible, the conditions under which you can be curtailed, the redundancy required of you, and the transfer time behind any N-1 commitment. Treat this as an open diligence item, not as an indication that service is firm.
Utility feeds, UPS, storage, on-site generation, islanding, black start and the residual energy you still expect to lose are properties of a specific site design, not of a market. This layer only exists once there is a site, and we never assert it for you.
What this means: Supply and demand look broadly balanced; the outcome hinges on the drivers below.
The average customer loses about 67.88 minutes of power per year (2024). This is the standard regulator outage measure (SAIDI); lower means a more reliable grid.
Averaged across 4 territories. No single customer experiences this figure. The per-territory table in the reliability overlay above gives each operator’s own filed record, which is what a site-specific read needs.
95 GW
55 months
The full queue analysis for this market, which covers the share of projects that give up and leave the queue (the withdrawal rate), how much of the queue is data centers, and the sources, is available through /api/v1/queue/desert-southwest with a paid key. These are generation and storage queue figures: they show interconnection-system congestion, not a typical large-load connection wait.
Withdrawn (#317). The published band blended an effective regulated rate with APS's PROPOSED extra-large-load class of roughly +45%, which the Arizona Corporation Commission has not decided: the rate-case hearing closed 7 July 2026 and the Commission's vote is due by 31 December 2026. A pending proceeding may not set a current delivered cost. The band's primary source was also an ACC large-load workshop rather than a tariff.
No delivered-cost band is published for this market, and no substitute figure has been put in its place. Screening on recurring cost returns insufficient evidence for this market rather than a value we cannot defend.
Restored when: A cited EFFECTIVE rate applicable to the standard archetype -- APS's Extra High Load Factor schedule as it currently stands, or SRP's E-67 large-load terms -- with a stated cost boundary, effective date, method and confidence. The proposed class may then be carried as a dated forward risk outside the band, never inside it. Withdrawn 2026-08-20.
Moderate
1 of 2 data layers measured
Substantial
2 of 3 dimensions: reliability, connection, cost
June 2026
per-layer vintages below
| Layer | Method | Vintage | Freshness | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PGIQ Rating opinion | opinion | June 2026 | Current | PGIQ methodology |
| Reliability | measured | 2024 | Fresh | EIA Form 861, Schedules 3B and 3C (annual electric power industry report) (IEEE 1366 major-event treatment, customer-weighted blend of 4 of 4 territories, 100% of customers, regional context only) |
| Interconnection queue | modelled | end-2025 (LBNL 2026) | Fresh | LBNL Queued Up 2026 |
Freshness reflects each layer's refresh cadence: reliability annual to three-yearly, capacity-auction and queue yearly, tariffs every year or two. The full cross-market freshness dashboard is at /data-quality.
Territories in this market, each with its own filed record: Arizona Public Service Co, Salt River Project, Tucson Electric Power Co, UNS Electric, Inc. Which one serves a given site depends on where that site is.
How the connection process is organised: the applicable service and connection entities depend on the candidate location and the power pathway. We have not compiled the structure for this market; that is a gap in our wayfinding, not a fact about the market.
The real-world events that test our Tier 2 call for Desert Southwest (Phoenix): 1 supports it. Each is dated and cited, so you can check the rating against what is actually happening on the ground.
The Desert Southwest is now one of the fastest-growing US data-center markets on land, solar and a pro-build posture.
Source: CBRE ↗How Desert Southwest (Phoenix)'s reliability-adjusted score and tier have moved, month by month. Part of your Analyst Desk.
Every field above carries its own source and freshness. Price, imports and exports are modelled in every market because no feed supplies them. Carbon intensity is derived from the fuel mix.
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