As industry and urbanity move into rural Maricopa, the once prominent rural lifestyle struggles to preserve itself.

Nov. 4, 1975. It’s a date so near and dear to Nancy Rollins that she doesn’t need to take a beat to remember it. 

“I moved out here 50 years ago. We bought our land. We did the things that we had to do, you know? It was a big deal,” the Hidden Valley resident said.   

At the time, the region was firmly rooted in its agricultural identity. Pinal County’s population sat at roughly 67,000, and Maricopa, home to about 200 of them, was little more than a wide stretch of desert punctuated by farmland and ranches. 

For Rollins, it felt like paradise, especially after dark. 

“In those days, we used to be able to go out every night and watch falling stars and see the Milky Way. Every night. It was amazing,” she recalled.  

The darkness was thick, almost physical. All it took was stepping outside to feel swallowed by it. Those velvety nights, Rollins said, are long gone. 

“I know part of it’s my vision, but now you go outside and it’s like you should be able to see something, you know? Even when Ak-Chin built the casino, it changed dramatically out there just because of the lighting they have,” Rollins said. 

Each new development in East Maricopa, Hidden Valley or Thunderbird Farms seems to take a small piece of that quiet with it. Standing in a community meeting room lined with foam-board posters for proposed projects, she feels it slipping away again. 

While the dozen or so master-planned housing communities have dominated the local conversation in recent years, a different kind of development is moving toward the open land north of Rollins’s home: a natural gas plant. 

And Rollins knows this time the new neighbors won’t talk. They’ll hum.

An energy boom 

The Horseshoe Energy Project, a natural gas peaking plant paired with a battery energy storage system, is one of roughly two dozen energy and technology industry projects proposed for rural Pinal County over the past two years. 

The surge is not surprising. Just a few years ago, some speculated the traditionally agricultural and mining-focused county could become “the Detroit of electric vehicles.” 
Now, natural gas plants, solar farms and battery storage centers are increasingly entering the picture. Many of them have arrived quietly, often noticed first by nearby residents. 

The projects are part of Arizona’s broader utility strategy, led by Salt River Project and Arizona Public Service, to at least double resource capacity over the next decade as coal plants are retired and the state’s population and industrial base continue to grow. 

SRP has stated it plans to double or triple its energy capacity as it decommissions coal-based power and continues shifting toward renewable sources. 
“In the next five to 10 years, you’re going to see some stunning numbers from us,” SRP’s Economic Development Manager Karla Moran told the Mesa Economic Advisory Board in August.  

APS has said it plans to increase its energy portfolio by 7,300 megawatts by 2028, enough power to supply an additional 200,000 homes annually. 
But it is not just homes driving the demand. It is the rise of industry, including local developments such as the Industrial Triangle along Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway. It is electric vehicles needing to charge. And it is a growing network of data centers emerging across the state as daily life becomes increasingly tied to technology. 
 

Why Pinal County? 

In Robert Klob’s mind, the appeal of building energy and data centers in Pinal County is obvious. 

Klob has practiced architecture for more than three decades and serves on the Planning & Zoning Commissions for both Pinal County and the City of Maricopa. He has watched countless projects be proposed, approved, denied, embraced and opposed. 

“I think the attractiveness is twofold: It’s attractive because land prices are relatively reasonable, considering what they are like in Maricopa County or even Pima County, and there’s a lot of land. Pinal County, land wise, is the size of Connecticut,” Klob said. 

For Kelly Sarber, co-founder of Epic Star Energy, the equation includes not only land availability but the county’s long-standing role as an energy corridor. Her proposal to construct the Horseshoe Energy Project in Rollins’s rural neighborhood is one of 14 power station projects brought forward in Pinal County since early 2024. 

“Arizona ultimately has the ability to make a lot of power. There is a constant improvement in power that’s coming to the grid,” Sarber said. “But in Pinal specifically, it’s a major energy corridor because of the natural gas assets built over the years” 

Horseshoe Energy is one of the few proposals to gain even modest community support, with Sarber acknowledging it is often viewed as the lesser of two evils. 

“I would say, candidly, that people see this as a choice between energy and homes, and they prefer the energy projects over being inundated by a lot of homes in an area they don’t want to become congested,” Sarber said. 

Still in the planning stages, the project would sit on a 159-acre parcel adjacent to the existing Pinal West Substation at Table Top and Fulcar Roads in Hidden Valley. Existing gas, electric and transmission lines already pass through the area, with additional transmission lines planned for the substation. 

That infrastructure was a key reason Sarber selected the site, though she acknowledged the challenge of balancing development with a rural lifestyle. 

“We don’t want to have people feel their quality of life or their way of life is being completely ended, and that we can seamlessly incorporate our facility into their day-to-day lives without any impacts,” she said. 

Sarber has hosted several public and private meetings with residents to gather feedback. Ideas floated include regional hiking or horse trails and the construction of nearby rodeo grounds. 

“What we’re trying to find is that common ground,” she said. 
 

An invisible driver 

Of the 20 emerging energy and technology projects in various planning or construction stages countywide, half are within a 20-mile radius of Maricopa. Not all have made an effort to engage the surrounding community. 

“I don’t think they fit. We’re a desert. Pinal County is desert.” 

That view comes from Robin Davis, a Hidden Valley resident of more than a decade and a former off-road desert racer. 

“I raced three-wheelers for many years around Southern California, Arizona, in Baja (Mexico). I know the desert, so the harshness doesn’t faze me a bit,” she said. “It makes me a little tougher than most and you need to know how to live out here.” 

For Davis, respecting the desert means accepting the limits it imposes. 

That perspective shapes her skepticism of data centers and some energy projects. While she supports the Horseshoe Energy Project because of its location, she remains wary of data centers due to their historical demands on resources. 

“They use a lot of water — a tremendous amount of water. Well, we don’t have water out here to spare. They’re also energy hogs,” Davis said.  

Sam Bourgi, a financial analyst and researcher with Investors Observer, said data centers currently suck up 4% of the nation’s electricity, but this is expected to increase dramatically throughout the rest of the decade as artificial intelligence becomes more prominent.  

“The Pew Research Center reports that this share is expected to more than double by 2030 as AI workloads grow … Most people first hear ‘data center’ and think tech jobs and tax base, not giant new power customer,” he told InMaricopa. 

He said while some data centers are incorporating their own power generation into projects to help “reduce strain on the public grid,” these additional sources can still contribute to extra emissions and local pollution.  

“AI makes data centers even more power-hungry, because AI can use several times more electricity than traditional cloud [services],” Bourgi said.  

So far, only two proposed data centers plan to generate their own power: the La Osa Project in Red Rock and the Energy Generation and Technology Campus in Maricopa near Teel and White-and-Parker Roads. The Maricopa project also plans to draw power from the Griffin Energy Project, a natural gas and solar plant in Stanfield. 

Klob said data centers have “failed in the past” when it comes to power use, water consumption and being good neighbors. 

“There’s data centers in Chandler, in Phoenix that use a lot of water and a lot of power. There’s the hum, there’s the vibrations, and they’re not a big job generator. So, from that aspect, it’s difficult and I have hesitations,” he said, despite voting yes in the 6–2 decision that moved the project through the county zoning board in October. “I think it really is a work in progress… If they do come in and bring their own infrastructure, I think that helps the argument, so they don’t become a burden on the community.” 
 

‘Listen to the people’ 

Being a good neighbor, residents say, also means recognizing Pinal County is no longer a place where companies can quietly push projects through. 

Davis said if she could offer one message to developers, it would be simple: “Listen to the residents and don’t just push your way in.” 

Klob agreed. 

“Probably the biggest thing is: Listen to the people. Understand their concerns… and come with solutions,” he said. 

The commissioner added that developers who once treated the county as a blank slate are encountering a new reality shaped by residents who expect transparency and engagement. 

“I think more and more companies are now realizing we’re not pushovers anymore,” Klob said. “We’re not the cities where you can come and do whatever you want. We’re watching things now; we’re controlling things a lot better.” 

Sarber, the Horseshoe Energy rep, said that approach is something she has tried to follow, particularly after watching other companies move forward with little notice. 

“We’re out there being vulnerable, meeting with people and talking about our project,” she said. “It’s just learning the folks and what they want and trying to be a good listener.” 

In a county still balancing progress with heritage, listening, residents say, may be the only place to start — if they’re going to be on board at the finish. 

County by the numbers  

Current data centers: 1 
Proposed data centers: 7 
Current power stations: 13 (4 gas, 9 solar) 
Proposed power stations: 14 (10 solar, 4 gas) 
Current energy production: 3,066 megawatts 
Proposed energy production: 11,760 MW 
Current battery storage: 5 stations, 2,276 MW 
Proposed battery storage: 6,857 MW 
County size: 5,374 square miles 
Proposed projects: 35 square miles
 
Pinal proposals: Data centers

Energy Generation and Technology Campus, Maricopa * 
Project Midway, Stanfield  
EdgeCore Florence Tech Park, Florence 
Sunhill Mixed Use Project, Florence 
Arizona Land Consulting Gateway, Casa Grande 
Southwest Crossing Data Center Campus, Eloy 
La Osa Project, Red Rock * 
* Provide own energy generation
 
Pinal proposals: Energy projects

Horseshoe Energy Project, Hidden Valley. 250 megawatts natural gas, 500 MW battery energy storage system. 
Cactus Wren Energy Storage, Maricopa. 800 MW BESS. 
La Osa Project, Red Rock. 3000MW natural gas, unknown MW BESS.  
Silver Reef Energy, Stanfield. 150 MW solar, 200 MW BESS.  
Griffin Energy Project, Stanfield. 550 MW natural gas, 500 MW solar, 55 0MW BESS.  
Cactus Flower Solar, Eloy. 270 MW solar, 270 MW BESS. 
Ore Town Solar, Mammoth. 145 MW solar, 145 MW BESS. 
Tap Solar Project, Hidden Valley. 1000 MW solar, 1000 MW BESS.  
Frontier East Solar, Maricopa. 50 MW solar, 300 MW BESS.  
Sundog Solar, Casa Grande. 200MW solar, unknown MW BESS.  
Serrano Solar Project, Marana. 220MW solar, 214MW BESS. 
Project Bella, Casa Grande. 480MW natural gas, 440MW BESS. 
Silver King Energy Center, Coolidge. 1100MW solar, unknown MW BESS. 
Sonak Solar Project, Red Rock. 323MW solar, 162MW BESS. 
Energy Generation and Technology Campus, Maricopa. Unknown MW natural gas, unknown MW BESS.