Transforming Hydro Operations: Salt River Project’s Fleet Modernization

Emerson’s Integrated Ovation Automation Platform Improves Operations, Reduces Maintenance Time & Costs

U.S. utilities are under increasing pressure to deliver reliable, low‑carbon power as aging infrastructure, extreme temperatures, and rising electricity demand strain system performance. This challenge is especially acute for hydropower fleets built nearly a century ago yet still essential for grid stability.

Salt River Project (SRP) recently faced this challenge while modernizing four hydroelectric facilities—some more than 120 years old—without disrupting operations in one of the nation’s fastest-growing regions. Rapid load growth and prolonged extreme heat in the Phoenix area amplified the need to improve unit reliability, increase operational visibility, and reduce maintenance burdens associated with legacy systems.

A key component of SRP’s modernization effort was the replacement of aging excitation systems, which had become a major source of troubleshooting and operational inefficiency. By standardizing excitation and plant controls on Emerson’s Ovation™ Automation Platform, SRP realized a 30% reduction in O&M costs and a 50% decrease in troubleshooting time.

This presentation will explore how SRP executed this fleet-wide modernization, why outdated excitation and control systems pose risks to renewable energy output, and how utilities can balance modernization timelines with system reliability.

Attendees will gain practical insight into the technical and organizational decisions required to modernize hydropower assets at scale—including lessons learned from SRP’s real-world transition to unified automation and next-generation excitation control.

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