FPL breaks ground on 745 MW of Florida solar projects

US utility Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) said on Thursday it has kicked off construction of a portfolio of 10 photovoltaic (PV) parks with a combined capacity of 745 MW.

Each of the projects has a capacity of 74.5 MW and is expected to become operational by early 2020. The plants will be located in 10 individual counties across the Sunshine State, with 200 people to be involved in the peak construction of each of them.

"This year alone we're building enough solar to increase our solar capacity by 60% and we are just getting started as we count down to the installation of 30 million panels by 2030,” said Eric Silagy, FPL’s president and CEO.

FPL said it currently operates 18 solar power plants, two of which coupled with energy storage, as well as hundreds of smaller installations. The company’s total installed PV capacity stands at 1.25 GW. Once the 745 MW of new solar parks are switched on, FPL's power plants will be able to generate enough electricity for around 400,000 homes, the utility estimates.

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