PHOENIX — Solar after sunset. ABC15 took a tour inside one of Arizona Public Services' (APS) nine energy storage systems connected to their solar power plants.
The plant in Gila Bend has 28 containers that can dispatch energy stored throughout the day from solar panels for customers to use at night.
The nine facilities can provide enough power to serve more than 30,000 Arizona homes for up to four hours.
APS' Ben Cluff calls it a game-changer and says they're planning on building 13 more of these facilities to keep up with demand, especially after this past July.
"It allows us the opportunity to take abundant sunshine that we're currently experiencing, and to be able to capture that energy, store it and then apply it to where it's needed," Cluff said.
Similar storage systems were used years before, but APS paused operations in 2019 after an explosion at one of their plants in Surprise injured eight firefighters.
APS officials say that safety is the priority and they're working closely with first responders to make sure they have the battery storage education and training they need.
