Florida Power & Light adds more than 1.25 million solar panels to facilities this year

Florida Power & Light (FPL) recently announced that it has added more than 1.25 million solar panels of 2.5 million solar panels pledged to eight Florida solar power plants this year.

Current plans call for the rest to be finished by early 2018, which will themselves be part of a larger scale venture to add more than 10 million solar panels between 2016 and 2023. It marks a massive solar undertaking by a company that is already the third-largest electric utility in the United States.

“We’re investing nearly $1 billion to grow solar in Florida this year alone, and we’re building each of these new solar power plants cost-effectively,” FPL President and CEO Eric Silagy said. “Together, these eight new plants are projected to generate an estimated net lifetime savings of more than $100 million for our customers – over and above the cost of construction. Our continued commitment to rapidly expand solar energy while keeping customer bills low demonstrates that it is, in fact, possible to be both clean and affordable.”

The eight solar plants are being rolled out along two dates. Half of the planned solar plants are slated for completion on Dec. 31 of this year, with the other half following on March 1, 2018. Between them, they will have the capability to generate 600 MW of power if the sun cooperates.

Florida is recognized as ninth in the nation for solar resource capability.