Duke Energy Florida has entered its new Duette Solar Power Plant into commercial operational now.
The 74.5-MW facility is built on approximately 520 acres of land in Manatee County. The firm has installed approximately 227,000 single-axis tracking solar panels at the site. The electricity generated from these solar panels is enough to power about 23,000 homes at peak production annually.
The Duette facility is part of Duke Energy Florida’s $1 billion investment for providing 700MW of clean energy by 2022.
With the Duette plant now operational, Duke Energy Florida is on track to achieving its milestone of completing ten new solar projects by 2022, eight of which are already in service. The other two, namely the 74.9MW Charlie Creek Solar Power Plant and the Sandy Creek Solar Power Plant, are under construction. The Charlie Creek Solar Power Plant site is in Hardee County and will have 235,000 single-axis tracking solar panels installed. The Sandy Creek Solar Power Plant in Bay County will have about 220,000 single-axis tracking solar panels installed. The eight solar power plants, which are already in service, will eliminate more than 1bn pounds of CO2 emissions every year.
Additionally, the firm has announced 750 MW of solar generation, due for completion between 2022 and 2024. This will require another $1 billion in investment and the addition of another ten solar sites. A total of six of these sites have been finalised and the remaining four will be selected in 2022.
Overall, Duke Energy Florida’s solar generation portfolio will include 25 grid-connected solar power plants. It will require a combined investment of $2 billion. These projects will generate 1,500MW of emission-free electricity from 5 million solar panels by 2024.
Duke Energy Florida State President Melissa Seixas said, “These investments will allow Florida customers to enjoy an energy system that is increasingly resilient and provides cleaner energy to everyone in our service area.”
