Ryan Nicol
Florida Power & Light (FPL) is booting up five new solar energy centers by year’s end. That means the company will have 33 solar energy centers online by 2021.
Three of those five centers are the first of their kind in their respective counties. Nassau County will receive its first solar plant in the Nassau Solar Energy Center. The Trailside Solar Energy Center will go live in St. Johns County, also a first for that area. The same goes for Union County with the launch of the Union Springs Solar Energy Center.
FPL will also open the Egret Solar Energy Center in Baker County and the Lakeside Solar Energy Center in Okeechobee County by Dec. 31.
“Nobody in America is building more affordable solar than FPL and I’m very pleased that despite many challenges, including multiple storms and COVID, the FPL team was able to keep all of these projects on schedule and budget,” said Eric Silagy, FPL’s president and CEO.
“Our FPL SolarTogether program is an innovative piece of the company’s rapid solar expansion, which helps us consistently deliver America’s best energy value – electricity that’s not just clean and reliable, but also affordable.”
The additions build on other FPL solar plant launches earlier this year. Those openings followed a 2019 announcement the company would open 10 additional plants. All 10 opened this spring.
Now, the company is adding five more openings to its 2020 list. Each new plant has a 74.5-megawatt capacity. In total, the five newest centers will power around 75,000 homes.
“Our goal is to make Florida a leader in clean, solar energy that keeps costs down for our customers, helps to keep the Sunshine State beautiful, and, in the process, creates local construction jobs,” Silagy added.
“These five new solar energy centers are helping us take a powerful step forward as we execute our ‘30-by-30’ commitment.”
The company plans to continue expanding its solar array, with nine more centers under construction set for a 2021 launch. FPL aims to have 30 million solar panels installed by 2030.
