Through our participation in the International Economic Development Council's inaugural Arizona Sustainable Economic Development Learning Lab, we — Erica Sturwold with Salt River Project (SRP) and Cameron Robb with Arizona Public Service (APS) — collaborated on a capstone project that transforms industrial transition into a vital economic development opportunity.

Using learnings from the course, we worked together to form a utility-led framework for sustainable economic development in decommissioned coal plant communities. The result is a model designed not only for Arizona, but for any utilities and communities across the country to adapt and replicate.

Why Coal Community Transition Requires a New Economic Development Model

Coal plant retirements are not simply energy decisions; they are community level economic shocks. Plant closures affect employment, local tax bases, small businesses, infrastructure utilization, and community identity. Without intentional planning, these communities risk long-term economic decline even as the broader region advances toward cleaner energy.

As APS and SRP, we share a commitment to protecting reliability and affordability for customers while also supporting the communities historically tied to our coal assets. For APS, this includes the retirement of the Cholla Power Plant in March 2025. For SRP, it includes the planned retirement and repurposing of the Coronado Generating Station in St. Johns, Arizona by 2032.

The Learning Lab provided us a structured environment to step back from our individual projects and ask a broader question: What role can utilities play in helping coal impacted communities transition toward resilient, diversified economies?

How the Learning Lab Shaped Our Capstone Approach

Rather than producing a single redevelopment proposal, we used the Learning Lab to develop a strategic planning framework grounded in several core principles reinforced throughout the course:

• Climate readiness is now an economic development issue, not a separate environmental concern.
• Community-led visioning must guide redevelopment, not top-down solutions.
• Economic resilience depends on diversification, workforce transition, and infrastructure reuse.
• Utilities can convene, align, and de-risk redevelopment efforts by leveraging their long-term planning horizons, data, and partnerships.
• Funding and implementation must be designed early, with realistic pathways to execution.

These lessons shaped our capstone focused on process, partnerships, and replicability.

The Capstone: A Strategic Plan for Sustainable Economic Development in Coal Communities

Our capstone outlines a repeatable roadmap that utilities and economic development partners can use to support coal community transition. Drawing inspiration from national best practices, including coal plant redevelopment models used elsewhere in the country, our framework emphasizes five major components:

1. Building a Coal Community Transition (CCT) Team

Our model begins with assembling a cross-sector redevelopment team that includes utilities, local governments, economic development organizations, workforce partners, tribal entities where applicable, and community representatives. Utilities can play a convening role, helping align stakeholders around shared goals.

2. Assessing Economic, Environmental, and Infrastructure Impacts

Our framework calls for a comprehensive assessment of:

• Workforce impacts and retraining needs
• Existing infrastructure and site readiness
• Environmental conditions and remediation considerations
• Regional economic strengths and vulnerabilities

This data-driven approach ensures redevelopment strategies are grounded in local realities.

3. Identifying Site Challenges and Opportunities

Rather than treating coal sites as liabilities, our model reframes them as assets with existing transmission, transportation access, and industrial zoning that can support future uses such as renewable energy, advanced manufacturing, or next-generation power generation.

4. Community-Centered Engagement and Visioning

A central lesson from the Learning Lab was the importance of value-based communication and inclusive engagement. Our capstone emphasizes community-driven visioning to ensure redevelopment reflects local priorities, builds trust, and creates durable support.

5. Aligning Investment, Workforce, and Partnerships

Our framework integrates workforce development, infrastructure investment, and funding strategies from the outset. We recognize that successful economic transition depends on stacking resources, building partnerships, and planning for phased implementation.

Utility Roles: Different Structures, Shared Responsibility

APS and SRP are structured differently. APS is an investor-owned utility owned by shareholders and governed by a corporate board. SRP is a not-for-profit utility governed by a publicly elected board. We also approach community investment differently:

APS, through APS Promise, invests across education, workforce development, small business support, environmental stewardship, human services, and volunteerism.

SRP's public power governance model inherently supports long-term resource stewardship, infrastructure investment, and community representation, with strong partnerships across municipalities and tribal communities.

Despite our structural differences and confidentiality constraints, our capstone demonstrates that utilities can align around shared transition principles, even while implementing solutions tailored to our different organizational structures and service territories.

Why This Model Is Repeatable

Coal retirements are occurring across the country, often in rural or economically vulnerable communities. Our framework offers a scalable approach that:

• Positions utilities as long-term economic development partners
• Integrates workforce transition and infrastructure reuse
• Emphasizes community-led planning and cross-sector collaboration
• Aligns community longevity with economic competitiveness

Rather than prescribing a single outcome, our model provides a playbook — one that other utilities, economic developers, and communities can adapt based on local conditions.

Turning Transition into Opportunity

The Learning Lab offered us modules and resources on climate risk and economic development; resilience, equity and community impacts; climate communication and public engagement; workforce transition and green jobs; and funding, partnerships and implementation.

This, combined with ongoing engagement with IEDC educators and discussions of sustainable economic development examples from across the country, gave us the space, tools, and peer learning we needed to move beyond project-specific solutions. Our capstone demonstrates that with intentional planning, collaboration, and community engagement, coal plant retirements do not have to mark economic decline.

Instead, they can become a foundation for resilient, diversified, and future-ready local economies — in Arizona and well beyond.