News

Duke Energy Florida celebrates opening of 8.8-megawatt solar facility

Duke Energy Florida held a commemorative ribbon cutting and solar panel signing ceremony this morning to celebrate the opening of its 8.8-megawatt (MW) solar facility in Suwannee County, Florida, which began operating in November.

“We are proud of our newest solar power plant and excited about our future solar development in Florida,” Harry Sideris, Duke Energy Florida state president, said. “In the next four years, we will be adding up to 700 MW of new solar generation as part of our ongoing strategy to offer cleaner, smarter energy solutions that customers value in the Sunshine State.”

The facility consists of approximately 44,000 solar panels and is located on 70 acres in Suwannee County just east of the existing Suwannee power plant.

Duke retired three natural gas units at the Suwannee power plant in December 2016. The units were originally oil-fired but were later converted to natural gas. They generated 129 MW. Three other natural gas units are still in operation and generating 155 MW.

The company plans to add approximately 700 MW of solar energy by 2021. It expects to begin construction on its sixth Florida solar plant in 2018. The facility will be located in Hamilton County and have a capacity of approximately 75 MW.

A settlement agreement approved by the Florida Public Service Commission will allow the company, accelerating the company’s previous 10-year solar installation plan.

Kevin Randolph

Recent Posts

NERC makes recommendations for proactively meeting power challenges this summer

The power industry and policymakers should consider implementing several recommendations now to meet expected supply shortfalls prior to the start…

2 days ago

National Renewable Energy Lab uses robots to aid wind turbine blade manufacturing

Looking to cut down on the difficult nature of the work for humans and improve consistency of the outcome, the…

3 days ago

Switch to LED streetlights could save Sylvania, Ohio nearly $77,000 annually

Toledo Edison this month began a massive streetlight conversion project through Sylvania, Ohio, installing the first of 1,650 LED replacements.…

3 days ago

Southern Nuclear names new CEO and chairman

Peter Sena III has been named the new chairman and CEO of Southern Nuclear, a subsidiary of the Southern Company.…

3 days ago

Argonne National Lab to build R&D facility to test large-scale fuel cell systems

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) is con structing a research and development (R&D) facility to…

3 days ago

Program that offers tax credits for wind and solar in low-income communities to launch soon

A program that provides a 10 or 20-percentage point boost to the investment tax credit for qualified solar or wind…

4 days ago

This website uses cookies.