The advancement is expected to further improve the company’s carbon emissions profile which is claimed to be 30% cleaner than the US industry average.
Solar plants that have been opened by FPL include the Horizon Solar Energy Center located in Alachua and Putnam counties, Coral Farms Solar Energy Center in Putnam County, Indian River Solar Energy Center in Indian River County and Wildflower Solar Energy Center located in DeSoto County. Each of these plants produces 74.5MW.
Apart from these solar plants, the company is also constructing four more solar plants that are expected to come online this March. Those plants will also produce 74.5MW each with a total capacity of 298MW.
The plants are powered by about 2.6 million solar panels. FPL says that its new solar plants have been designed to pay for themselves over their operational life time. Overall, the eight solar plants are projected to generate more than $100m in saving for FPL’s customers over and above the cost of construction.
FPL president and CEO Eric Silagy said: “The truth is progress like this doesn't happen by accident. It's because of our culture of responsible innovation and an unwavering commitment to customers that we're able to deliver cleaner, more reliable energy while keeping electric bills among the lowest in the country.”
Besides opening four solar plants and four more plants in pipeline, the company has recently retired the aging coal-fired St. Johns River Power Park in Jacksonville in Florida. The coal plant was producing 1.3GW of electricity and provided power for the City of Jacksonville.
The coal plant was owned by FPL and Jacksonville Electric Authority (JEA), a community-owned electricity utility from the city. Closing the plant is expected to prevent 5.6 million tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.
