Contributed by Tracy Toogood
Florida Power & Light announced plans to build three solar power plants during Florida Governor Charlie Crist's second "Serve to Preserve Florida Summit on Global Climate Change," held in Miami June 25-26.
FPL's $688 million renewable energy plan calls for a 10-megawatt solar photovoltaic plant near the Kennedy Space Centre, a 75-megawatt solar thermal plant in Martin County near Palm Beach and a 25-megawatt photovoltaic plant, one of the largest in the world, in DeSoto County on Florida's west coast.
The Martin County project will be the largest single solar thermal facility outside of California, and the world’s first solar project connected to a natural gas-fired plant. FPL's plans position Florida as the second leading state in the nation for solar energy production after California.
The Miami conference involved local, state, national and international officials, as well as industry and environmental leaders, in a discussion to explore opportunities for expanding Florida’s alternative energy marketplace. Caliornia Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was a keynote speaker.
The conference was aimed at building on executive orders that Governor Crist signed last year declaring three goals: increase Florida's energy efficiency, reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, and increase the state's use of alternative and renewable energy technologies.
These orders were supplemented by legislation passed in April to increase energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy throughout the state while adopting a strategy for businesses to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
"The time has come for Florida, and America, to once again bring purpose and focus to the most pressing challenge of our time: energy," the governor said. "Ethanol will make up 10 per cent of Florida’s total fuel supply by 2010. The Public Service Commission will develop a renewable portfolio standard to increase the use of wind, solar and other renewable energy. And our state is now a leader in advancing the development of a (carbon) cap-and-trade programme."
FPL also wants to add a third unit to a natural gas plant in Palm Beach County. The Next Generation Clean Energy Plant would cost an estimated $840 million and replace 1960s-era oil and natural gas plants in Brevard and Riviera Beach. It would run exclusively on natural gas, reducing particle pollution by 99 per cent.
The plants are part of a $2.4 billion, 300-megawatt solar energy project that FPL announced at Crist's first climate conference last year.
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