Casa Grande is a rural community about 45 miles south of Phoenix. The Signal Peak station is just the latest among more than 20 power plants that are under construction or seeking approval throughout the state.

Signal Peak's first phase will infuse about $1 million annually into the economy in payroll and benefits for the workforce. Phase II will bring the complex's total job count to 20 and drive an annual payroll of $1.8 million.

Phase I construction, which will cost about $430 million, will take about two years to complete, with construction jobs peaking near 600 and construction salaries totaling more than $20 million. The second phase will push the investment to about $740 million and is scheduled for 2009, contingent upon the region's power needs. At build-out, the two phases will provide an aggregate 1160 megawatts or enough energy to power about 700,000 homes. What water the plant does use will come from the Colorado River via the Central Arizona Project canal.

Named after a nearby landmark, Signal Peak will use an innovative air-cooled condenser, a technology that drastically reduces water use and uses less than a tenth of the water of natural gas-powered generating facilities with conventional cooling towers.

Next week, Reliant will file a zoning application with Pinal County. If approved, it would be the first of its kind to be built in Arizona.

"Reliant Energy Signal Peak will be a valuable energy resource that's designed to meet the region's need for electricity while protecting the environment and conserving precious water supplies," says Jack Farley, president of the Western Region for the Reliant Energy wholesale group.

For the next decade, Salt River Project, one of the largest utilities in the state, is buying the output of Reliant's 600-megawatt Desert Basin, which came on line earlier this summer. The utility has not yet said whether it would purchase the output from the new plant. Signal Peak will adjoin Desert Basin, located off Burris Road and Maricopa Highway. It is bordered by the City of Casa Grande wastewater treatment plant, Ross Products Division, Abbott Laboratories, Frito-Lay, farm land and an abandoned poultry farm.