SOURCE BrightNight

YUMA, Ariz., Feb. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- BrightNight, a next-generation power and digital infrastructure company, announced it will be hosting a groundbreaking ceremony today, February 11th, at the future site of the Pioneer Clean Energy Center in Yuma County, Arizona. The event marks a major milestone for the energy project that will deliver reliable, affordable, and clean electricity to Arizona Public Service customers while strengthening grid resilience in one of the state's most constrained load pockets.

The Pioneer Clean Energy Center is a state-of-the-art 300-megawatt solar facility paired with 300 megawatts and 1,200 megawatt-hours of battery energy storage. The project is designed as a model of baseload renewable power, delivering more than 900,000 megawatt-hours of clean energy annually to support Arizona's growing energy needs.

"Pioneer reflects BrightNight's commitment to delivering infrastructure at the scale and performance required to support reliability, economic growth, and long-term system resilience," said Martin Hermann, Chief Executive Officer of BrightNight. "This project demonstrates how advanced clean energy and storage can work together to meet real-world utility needs while delivering meaningful benefits to local communities."

To deliver power from the facility to the grid, BrightNight will also construct an approximately nine-mile, 230-kilovolt generation-tie transmission line connecting the project to existing infrastructure. Together, the facility and gen-tie line represent a critical investment in Arizona's energy system and local infrastructure.

Once operational, the Pioneer Clean Energy Center will generate enough clean electricity each year to power approximately 77,299 local homes and businesses. Annual environmental benefits include the avoidance of an estimated 641,893 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, equivalent to more than 709 million pounds of coal not burned. The project will also reduce water consumption by more than 99 percent compared to traditional generation technologies, conserving an estimated 260 million gallons of water annually.

Construction officially began in October 2025, and commercial operations are commencing in April 2027. During construction, the project is expected to create approximately 250 to 300 jobs, with additional long-term employment opportunities during operations.

The Pioneer Clean Energy Center will generate an estimated $83.3 million in local and state property tax revenue over its lifetime, including more than $42 million paid to the Arizona State Land Department K-12 Educational Trust, directly supporting public education across the state.

The groundbreaking ceremony brings together local officials, community leaders, project partners, and BrightNight leadership to formally recognize the start of construction and highlight the project's long-term economic, reliability, and community benefits.

ABOUT BRIGHTNIGHT
BrightNight is a next-generation power and digital infrastructure company, purpose-built to serve the evolving needs of utilities, data centers, and commercial and industrial customers.
BrightNight designs, develops, and operates large-scale energy and infrastructure sites that integrate utility-scale renewables, advanced gas generation, battery energy storage, and power-optimized hubs for digital infrastructure. BrightNight's industry-leading 30 GW portfolio of best-in-class power projects is concentrated in the fastest-growing energy markets and data center hubs across the U.S.
BrightNight's customer focus and proprietary AI platform PowerAlpha® enable it to deliver industry-leading economics, performance, and uptime.
To learn more, visit www.brightnightpower.com.

Forward Looking Statements & Information
Certain information contained in this news release constitutes forward looking information or forward looking statements (collectively, forward looking statements). All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward looking statements. Forward looking statements typically contain words such as anticipate, believe, confirms, continuous, estimate, expect, may, plan, project, should, will, offers, or similar words suggesting future outcomes, and include, without limitation, all financial projections, estimates of future costs, and projected performance or results. Forward looking statements by their nature are subject to risks, assumptions and uncertainties which may cause the actual outcomes of such events to differ from BrightNight's expectation as of the date hereof. Whether forward looking statements ultimately prove to be accurate will depend on factors outside of the control of BrightNight. Readers are encouraged to undertake their own analysis and investigation as to the reasonableness of any such forward looking statements. Forward looking statements contained in this news release are made as at the date of this news release and BrightNight disclaims any intent or obligation to update or to revise any of the included forward looking statements.

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