Florida Power & Light (FPL) has started construction of four new solar power plants in Florida, with a total capacity of 300MW.

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Image: FPL to construct four solar plants. Photo: Courtesy of Neville Micallef/FreeImages.com

These solar power plants include the FPL Interstate Solar Energy Center, FPL Miami-Dade Solar Energy Center, FPL Pioneer Trail Solar Energy Center and FPL Sunshine Gateway Solar Energy Center. These solar plants are expected to begin operations early next year.

Each of these solar power plants has a capacity of 74.5MW. These four solar plants are expected to generate $40m in net lifetime savings for FPL customers through fuel and other savings.

FPL president and CEO Eric Silagy said: “Florida is leading the nation in implementing solar energy affordably. FPL is among the cleanest energy providers in the nation not because of governmental mandates or requirements, but because we’ve been committed to making smart investments in clean energy technologies for years.

“And we’ve proven that it’s possible to be both clean and reliable while keeping our customers’ electric bills among the lowest in the nation.”

The FPL Interstate Solar Energy Center in St. Lucie County will join three other solar plants including the FPL Loggerhead Solar Energy Center in St. Lucie County; FPL Indian River Solar Energy Center in Indian River County and FPL Blue Cypress Solar Energy Center in Indian River County.

The FPL Miami-Dade Solar Energy Center will be located in Miami-Dade County. The company claims that it will add more than 1 million solar panels across Miami-Dade in the coming years, starting with this solar plant.

The FPL Pioneer Trail Solar Energy Center will be located in Volusia County.

The FPL Sunshine Gateway Solar Energy Center will be located near the intersection of Interstates 10 and 75 near Florida’s northern border. Once completed, this solar plant will give a glimpse to visitors, a major solar energy operation at work, claimed the company.

Besides these, FPL operates 14 major solar power plants and more than 200 smaller solar installations, totaling more than 935MW.