FPL to Open New PV Plant

Florida Power & Light Co. (FPL) has announced plans to deliver electricity to customers from the DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center in Arcadia – the largest solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant in the country – by October-end. The plant would use 90,000 photovoltaic panels to convert solar energy into electricity lighting up above 3,000 homes. Earlier, Nevada’s Nellis Solar Power Plant was considered the largest PV plant in the country.
 
Together with the DeSoto Center the company plans to build two other solar energy centers in Florida – at the Martin County and at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, with total capacity of the three plants being 110 megawatts by end of 2010. These plants together would make Florida the second largest solar power-producing state in the country.
 
Large-scale solar projects such as Florida Power’s DeSoto Center creates additional jobs and also increases the revenues of governments, along with reducing the emission of greenhouse gases, preventing the ill-effects of pollution. The DeSoto project created over 400 jobs in Florida for the last 12-months during construction and is to add $2 million of annual tax revenue for the Florida government by the end of the next year.
 
Solar photovoltaic power provides significant environmental benefits because the facility consumes no fuel, uses no water and produces no waste. For instance, over its life the DeSoto Center will avert the release of more than 575,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, which is equivalent to taking more than 4,500 cars off the road every year, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In addition, the electricity generated by this facility will reduce the use of fossil fuels in Florida by more than 277,000 barrels of oil and 7 billion cubic feet of natural gas.

Read the full analyst report on FPL