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Mesquite Solar 1

Solar power plant · Maricopa County, Arizona

Nameplate capacity

170 MW

Rank in Arizona

#59

of 200 plants

In service since

2011

November 2011

Details

Primary fuel: Solar
Technology: Solar Photovoltaic
Operator: RWE Clean Energy
County: Maricopa County
Generating units: 12
Share of state capacity: 0.40%
Rank among solar plants in Arizona: #13 of 105
EIA plant code: 57707

Generating units

Individual generating units at Mesquite Solar 1
Unit	Technology	Nameplate	Summer	Online	Status
1	Solar Photovoltaic	16 MW	16 MW	2011	Operating
11	Solar Photovoltaic	16 MW	16 MW	2012	Operating
12	Solar Photovoltaic	16 MW	16 MW	2012	Operating
2	Solar Photovoltaic	16 MW	16 MW	2012	Operating
4	Solar Photovoltaic	16 MW	16 MW	2012	Operating
5	Solar Photovoltaic	16 MW	16 MW	2012	Operating
7	Solar Photovoltaic	16 MW	16 MW	2012	Operating
9	Solar Photovoltaic	16 MW	16 MW	2012	Operating
10	Solar Photovoltaic	12 MW	12 MW	2012	Operating
8	Solar Photovoltaic	12 MW	12 MW	2012	Operating
3	Solar Photovoltaic	10 MW	10 MW	2011	Operating
6	Solar Photovoltaic	8.0 MW	8.0 MW	2012	Operating

Nameplate is the maximum rated output; summer capacity is what the unit can reliably deliver on a hot day, which is typically lower.

Similarly sized plants in Arizona

Saguaro	Natural gas	185 MW
White Wing Solar	Solar	179 MW
Scatter Wash 1	Battery storage	170 MW
Sun Pond	Solar	170 MW

About this data

From EIA’s inventory of operable generators, May 2026 release. Capacity is nameplate — the maximum rated output of the equipment, not what the plant actually generates over a year, which depends on how often it runs. A 170 MW solar plant and a 170 MW nuclear plant have the same entry here and produce very different amounts of electricity.

“In service since” is the earliest in-service date among the units still listed, so a site rebuilt around newer equipment can read as younger than the site itself. All Arizona power plants · What Arizona actually generates