Brownfield & Retired Power Plant Sites in Arizona
23 catalogued brownfield and retired-generation sites in Arizona, listed by former capacity. Each carries an existing utility-scale grid interconnection that a new datacenter load may be able to re-use.
At a glance
What kinds of former sites are in Arizona?
By former use, the list includes 8 natural gas, 4 Superfund, 3 coal, 2 mine, 2 hydroelectric, 2 brownfield and 2 other categories. Recorded retirement dates run from October 1974 to September 2021, with 6 retirements in 2015 or later. 14 of 22 sites with a measured distance sit within 2 miles of a transmission substation.
How does Arizona compare with other states?
Arizona ranks 29th of 50 states and DC by number of brownfield and retired-generation sites, out of 2,085 nationally. By recorded capacity (7,086 MW) it ranks 12th, against 289,280 MW across all states. The state also has 3,816 scored datacenter candidate sites, 12 of them classed as brownfield sites, averaging 48.5 on the 0–100 DC Readiness scale.
Where in Arizona are these sites?
- Maricopa County · 5
- Coconino County · 2
- Pinal County · 2
- Yavapai County · 2
- Navajo County · 1
- Apache County · 1
- Pima County · 1
All brownfield and retired plant sites in Arizona
| Site | Former use | Capacity | Retired | County |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Navajo | coal | 2,409 MW | 2019-11-01 | Coconino |
| Copper Crossing Energy and Research Cent | gas | 1,779 MW | — | Pinal |
| Gila Bend Power Generation Station | gas | 900 MW | — | Maricopa |
| Cholla | coal | 703 MW | 2020-12-01 | Navajo |
| Springerville | coal | 400 MW | — | Apache |
| Saguaro | gas | 250 MW | 2013-07-01 | Pinal |
| Ocotillo | gas | 227 MW | 2019-01-01 | Maricopa |
| H Wilson Sundt Generating Station | gas | 218 MW | 2019-11-01 | Pima |
| West Phoenix | gas | 120 MW | 2002-12-01 | Maricopa |
| Crosscut | gas | 30 MW | 1974-10-01 | Maricopa |
| Bagdad Mine Solar | mine | 15 MW | — | — |
| Desert Star Solar Plant | landfill | 10 MW | — | — |
| Childs | hydro | 5 MW | 2005-06-01 | Yavapai |
| Tri Cities | gas | 5 MW | 2015-07-01 | Maricopa |
| Ajo Solar Project | mine | 5 MW | — | — |
| IRC Generator Facility | oil | 3 MW | 2021-09-01 | Coconino |
| Tucson International Airport Area | superfund | 3 MW | — | — |
| Williams Air Force Base | superfund | 2 MW | — | — |
| Irving | hydro | 2 MW | 2005-06-01 | Yavapai |
| Tuba City Disposal | brownfield | 0 MW | — | — |
| Tuba City Disposal Green Remediation | brownfield | 0 MW | — | — |
| Apache Powder Canopy | superfund | 0 MW | — | — |
| Apache Powder | superfund | 0 MW | — | — |
Frequently asked questions
How many retired power plants are in Arizona?
GridCensus lists 14 retired power plant sites in Arizona from EIA-860 retirement records. 11 have a recorded retirement date, 6 of them in 2015 or later.
What is the largest retired power plant or brownfield site in Arizona?
Navajo in Page is the largest by recorded capacity, at 2,409.3 MW. It is followed by Copper Crossing Energy and Research Cent (1,779 MW) and Gila Bend Power Generation Station (900 MW).
Which power plant in Arizona retired most recently?
IRC Generator Facility has the latest recorded retirement date in the state, September 2021, with 3 MW of capacity.
Which county in Arizona has the most brownfield and retired plant sites?
Maricopa County has the most, with 5, followed by Coconino County with 2.
How many EPA brownfield sites in Arizona have completed cleanup?
9 of the 9 EPA-tracked sites listed for Arizona are recorded as cleanup complete.
Looking for a specific record? The directory lists every brownfield site, A to Z.
More on Arizona, and states with similar counts
- Datacenter candidate sites in Arizona· 3,816 sites
- Electric substations in Arizona· 466 named
- Brownfield candidate sites nationwide
- Brownfield sites by state
- Brownfield sites in Maine· 25 sites
- Brownfield sites in Kentucky· 22 sites
- Brownfield sites in Nevada· 27 sites
- Brownfield sites in Tennessee· 22 sites
About this data
Source: EIA-860 retired generating units and EPA RE-Powering America's Land contaminated-site records, as published March 6, 2026. See the methodology for how records are matched, cleaned and scored.
Cite as: GridCensus, “Brownfield and retired power plant sites in Arizona”, https://gridcensus.com/brownfield-sites/arizona (data as of March 6, 2026).
Dataset updated . Screening estimates derived from public data sources.
Go deeper than the public screen
Every site and score for brownfield sites in Arizona is free to browse. Pro adds Watchtower on 25 sites, alerts when new candidate sites, datacenters or interconnection-queue requests appear in your markets, score and capacity history, and CSV export. Enterprise adds team seats, weekly data files for all 147,272 sites, the REST API and an MCP server for AI tools.