Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) has begun operations of four solar plants, with a combined output of about 300MW, in the state of Florida.
Image: NextEra begins operations of four solar plants. Photo: Courtesy of dan/FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
The company has started operations at the plants that include FPL Interstate Solar Energy Center at St. Lucie County; FPL Miami-Dade Solar Energy Center at Miami-Dade County; FPL Pioneer Trail Solar Energy Center at Volusia County; and FPL Sunshine Gateway Solar Energy Center at Columbia County.
Each of the four solar plants will have a capacity of 74.5MW. Construction on the solar plants was started in August 2018.
With these plants operating, FPL, the subsidiary of NextEra Energy, now operates a total of 18 solar plants and hundreds of other smaller solar installations, with a total 1.25GW of universal solar capacity across Florida.
FPL president and CEO Eric Silagy said: “These solar plants are the latest tangible evidence of our unparalleled commitment to investing in clean energy technologies for Florida affordably – a strategy that has already dramatically reduced emissions and produced billions of dollars in savings for Floridians.”
The firm claims that the four new solar plants are estimated to save more than $40m for its customers in the long run.
Earlier this month, the company announced the ‘30-by-30’ plan to install more than 30 million additional solar panels across the state by 2030. If the plan is implemented, it could result in the installation of nearly 11GW of installed solar capacity by 2030.
The company also plans to invest in battery storage technology to increase its capability of using solar energy when the sun isn’t shining.
In January 2018, it opened four new solar plants in the US state of Florida with a combined electricity generation capacity of 298MW.
Solar plants that were opened included 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. The plants are powered by about 2.6 million solar panels.