Highlights
- Copia Power filed Maricopa County rezoning documents for 3,100 acres near Tonopah to build the Belmont Energy Center.
- About 2,860 acres would be utility-scale solar; 320 acres would house gas generation, battery storage, and data centers.
- The project is part of a planned 30,000-acre campus in the Harquahala Valley; a planning and zoning hearing has not yet been scheduled.
- Swedish firm EQT announced last month it is acquiring Copia, with the deal expected to close later this year.
Copia Power has filed planning documents with Maricopa County to rezone about 3,100 acres near Tonopah for the Belmont Energy Center, a solar, battery storage, and data center project that would extend the Salt Lake City developer's growing footprint in the far West Valley.
Of the total site, about 2,860 acres would be devoted to utility-scale solar energy generation. The remaining roughly 320 acres would be used for a gas generation facility, battery energy storage systems, and data centers, according to a project narrative included in the county filing.
The Belmont Energy Center is part of a larger planned 30,000-acre digital and power infrastructure campus in the Harquahala Valley, located about an hour's drive west of Phoenix. Copia owns some of the project parcels; others are held by a group of investors. Five landowners are included in the overall project site, with most of the acreage owned by Harquahala Valley Farms LLC and WPI HD2 Farm Az LLC. Several adjacent parcels are currently owned by the Arizona State Land Department, according to a site context map in the planning documents.
Copia completed what it describes as its flagship project within the larger planned campus, a $1.2 billion, 450-megawatt solar farm with 1,200 megawatt hours of battery storage. In April, the company received rezoning approvals to expand that initial phase by 700 acres while allowing for data center uses. Its broader Maricopa Energy Centers development, which carries a $1.7 billion construction loan and a power purchase agreement with APS, is expected to be operational within the next year and will have 550 megawatts of solar capacity and 2,200 megawatt hours of battery storage.
Copia was founded in 2021 with backing from The Carlyle Group (Nasdaq: CG), focused on gigawatt-scale power generation facilities and data centers at high-voltage grid locations. Last month, Swedish investment firm EQT announced it was acquiring Copia, with the deal expected to close later this year.
The Belmont Energy Center is early in the entitlement process. Copia officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
When will Maricopa County hold a hearing on the Belmont Energy Center?
A planning and zoning commission hearing has not yet been scheduled, according to the county planning documents. The project remains in the early stages of the entitlement process, meaning a public vote on the rezoning request is likely months away.
Tonopah, about 25 miles west of Buckeye on I-10, is also home to a separate project by Arizona Land Consulting, which is developing a data center and power plant hub across roughly 4,000 acres on three sites, with the largest, Hassayampa Ranch, spanning 2,000 acres and projected to include 60 data center buildings.
Where to find them
- Harquahala Valley Farms LLC · bizapedia.com · Facebook · X
- The Carlyle Group · carlyle.gcs-web.com
Sources
Every factual claim in this article traces to one of the sources below. See how we work for the editorial process.
- aztechcouncil.org retrieved 02/09/2026 20:29
- Harquahala Valley Farms LLC (official site) retrieved 02/09/2026 20:29
- The Carlyle Group (official site) retrieved 02/09/2026 20:29
Authored by The Scottsdale Signal. Drafted by AI from primary-source material under our beat-specific editorial guides; reviewed by humans before publish under our five-gate process. Sources retrieved at 02/09/2026 20:29. Every claim traces to a source.
