Florida Power & Light To Triple Solar Power Capacity In 2 Years

(RTTNews) - Florida Power & Light Co., Florida's largest investor-owned utility, has announced plans to triple its solar power capacity by the end of 2016, as part of its ongoing strategy of advancing clean energy while keeping electricity affordable for customers.

The utility, which is a subsidiary of Juno Beach, Florida-based NextEra Energy, Inc. (NEE), said it plans to build three new solar photovoltaic power plants, each of which is being designed for roughly 74 megawatts of capacity. The company has already identified three sites with built-in advantages for the purpose. Construction on the plants will start later this year and finish by the end of next year.

The new plants, combined with community-based solar installations and other small-scale arrays that FPL is installing, would add more than 225 megawatts of new solar power capacity, tripling the utility's solar power capacity from its current level of about 110 megawatts.

The proposed capacity additions will also nearly double the state of Florida's solar capacity from its current 229 megawatts.

"Over the past decade, we have continuously focused on advancing reliable, affordable, clean energy for our customers," said Eric Silagy, president and CEO of FPL. "In particular, we have been working especially hard to find ways to advance solar energy in Florida without increasing electricity costs, and we have developed what we believe will be a cost-effective plan to triple the amount of solar energy we use to serve our customers before the end of 2016."

FPL currently serves more than 4.7 million customer accounts across nearly half of Florida by operating a diverse portfolio of energy sources. It anticipates a significant need for additional firm power generation beginning in 2019, when its total number of customer accounts is projected to top 5 million.