Florida Honored for Largest PV Plant
Obama visits the Next Generation Solar Plant. Photo Credit: iCel
The Southeastern Electric Exchange has awarded Florida Power & Light (FPL) its highest honor in recognition of FPL's DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center. The 25-megawatt photovoltaic power plant is currently the largest in the United States, providing enough solar electricity to power 3,000 Florida homes. That solar power is a valuable commodity in a state soon to be without state-level solar rebates.
The Southeastern Electric Exchange is a non-profit, non-political trade group made up of investor-owned utilities. Today, FPL was awarded the coveted Chairman's Award, making them the "Best of the Best" among all entrants in the Exchange's 11 award categories.
The DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center entails more than 90,000 PV panels to generate its 25 megawatts of solar power. The project created hundreds of local construction jobs and will provide over $2 million in property tax revenue for DeSoto County in just its first year of operation. Over its lifetime, it's estimated that the plant will offset some 575,000 tons of greenhouse gas emission--the equivalent of removing 4,500 cars from the road every year of that time span.
Luckily for solar proponents in Florida, the DeSoto PV plant was built while valuable state solar rebates were still in effect. And they still are for another seven days, at which time state rebates will be allowed to expire. An attempt at renewal recently died in committee at the legislative level, hindered by a tight budget cycle.
FPL is also well-known in the region for its solar-natural gas hybrid power plant in Martin County. It's called, you guessed it, the Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center. But in this case, a 75-MW concentrating solar power (CSP) plant will attach to a 3,075-MW combined-cycle natural gas plant, currently the nation's largest fossil-fuel-burning power plant in existence. A 180,000-mirror parabolic trough solar array will feed heat to the existing power plant, reducing the need for natural gas by 155,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) per year at an average of 18 MW. That's enough energy to power 11,000 homes.
FPL's parent company, NextEra Energy is the nation's number-one producer of renewable energy from wind and solar power. The company is listed on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and has, according to a press release, been named one of the "100 Most Sustainable Companies in the World" five separate times by Innovest Strategic Value Advisors Inc. and Corporate Knights.
Source: MarketWatch
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