Staff Reports
Florida Power and Light Company (FPL) held a celebration Monday evening to showcase the world’s largest solar-powered battery, which can help increase the reliability of solar energy.
FPL unveiled the battery at its Manatee Solar Energy Center Monday. It’s “the world’s largest battery when measured by generating output and the world’s largest solar-powered battery when measured by both total output and capacity per hour,” according to the company.
The battery is measured at 409 megawatts and 900 megawatt hours. That gives it the power of 100 million iPhone batteries and allows it to power nearly 330,000 homes for more than two hours.
The biggest benefit of the battery is that it can help homes operate on solar energy even when it’s dark outside. The battery will store solar energy captured by the Manatee Solar Energy Center and keep it available for use when needed.
“It’s been a momentous year for clean energy in Florida — FPL opened the year by formally shutting down its last coal-fired plant in the state and now we’re closing the year by shattering a world record and commissioning the largest solar-powered battery in the world,” FPL president and CEO Eric Silagy said in a statement on the battery’s unveiling.
“Since embarking on the largest solar expansion in the nation, the company has also installed more than 13 million solar panels and is already 45% of the way toward reaching our ‘30-by-30’ goal to install 30 million solar panels across the state of Florida by 2030. What makes me most proud is that these projects are cost-effective for customers, which helps keep bills low over the long term. This battery is another example of how FPL has become a leader in clean energy and sustainability without sacrificing affordability or reliability.”
Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis was also on hand at Monday’s ceremony, and he celebrated the company’s innovation and what it could mean for the state.
“I’m so excited this investment has taken place here in Florida. It’s diversifying our state’s energy portfolio. It’s taking things and bringing it to a whole new level of awareness,” Patronis said. “Nine hundred people a day are moving to the state of Florida. And innovations like this help make it affordable to live in this amazing state.”
