Electric utility Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) has inaugurated 10 new solar energy centers in Florida, bringing its total to 60 across the state.
These new centers are capable of producing 745 MW of clean, emissions-free energy, enough to power 150,000 homes and cut carbon emissions equivalent to removing 140,000 gasoline cars from the road annually.
The 10 new FPL solar energy centers are Bluefield Preserve Solar Energy Center and Pink Trail Solar Energy Center in St. Lucie County; Blackwater River Solar Energy Center in Santa Rosa County; Cavendish Solar Energy Center in Okeechobee County; Everglades Solar Energy Center in Miami-Dade County; Apalachee Solar Energy Center in Jackson County; First City Solar Energy Center in Escambia County; Anhinga Solar Energy Center in Clay County; Flowers Creek Solar Energy Center and Chipola River Solar Energy Center in Calhoun County.
The FPL Cavendish Solar Energy Center will provide power to the planned FPL Cavendish NextGen Hydrogen Hub, which aims to achieve a 100-percent carbon-free electricity future. The ‘green hydrogen’ facility is expected to be completed by the end of this year. It will utilize solar energy and water to create hydrogen that will be compressed, stored and mixed into existing natural gas infrastructure at the FPL Okeechobee Clean Energy Center.
FPL says its solar power plants saved customers $375 million in fuel costs in 2022. It adds that the new solar energy centers brings the company closer to its Real Zero goal of eliminating carbon emissions from its power plant fleet by 2045, through the use of solar, battery storage, green hydrogen, and existing nuclear generation.
“This important milestone for FPL is the latest example of our unwavering commitment to America’s largest solar buildout on behalf of our customers and the Sunshine State,” said Tim Oliver, vice president of FPL Development. “We remain committed to making sustained, long-term investments in solar energy – which uses no fuel to produce energy – to build a more resilient and more sustainable energy future our children and grandchildren can depend on.”
FPL’s 60 solar energy centers across the state are capable of producing enough clean, emissions-free energy to power around 900,000 homes.
