FPL Awards EPC Contracts Totaling $900 Million to Build 596 Megawatts of New Solar

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Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) (Juno Beach, Florida) on March 15 awarded engineering, procurement & construction (EPC) contracts to Blattner Energy Incorporated (Avon, Minnesota) and Black & Veatch (B&V) (Overland Park, Kansas) to build eight 74.5-megawatt (MW) solar generation facilities in Florida. The four projects awarded to Blattner will be completed by yearend 2017 while the four projects B&V will build are scheduled to be operating by March 2018.

FPL, a unit of NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) (Juno Beach, Florida), will invest a total of about $900 million to build 596 MW of new solar generation at these eight locations. Those eight planned facilities will join the 11 other solar facilities, totaling 335 MW, that FPL already is operating in the Sunshine State.

The average estimated capital cost across the eight new solar plants is less than $1,500 per kilowatt (kW), among the lowest-cost solar ever built in America, FPL said. After the solar facilities are fully paid for, FPL customers will experience a net energy savings of $39 million compared to a business-as-usual case with fossil-fueled generation, the utility projected. The expected reduced reliance on fossil fuels will more than offset the cost to build the new solar generators, said FPL, one of the nation's largest electric utilities.

The four solar projects Blattner Energy will complete by yearend 2017 are:

• FPL Coral Farms Solar Energy Center, located in Putnam County
• FPL Horizon Solar Energy Center, located in Alachua and Putnam Counties
• FPL Indian River Solar Energy Center, located in Indian River County
• FPL Wildflower Solar Energy Center, in DeSoto County

B&V will build these four solar projects over the next 12 months:

• FPL Barefoot Bay Solar Energy Center, located in Brevard County
• FPL Blue Cypress Solar Energy Center, located in Indian River County
• FPL Hammock Solar Energy Center, located in Hendry County
• FPL Loggerhead Solar Energy Center, located in St. Lucie County

In announcing the EPC awards March 15, FPL President and Chief Executive Eric Silagy said, "Solar is an integral part of our affordable clean energy strategy, but we also have a duty to invest responsibly on behalf of our customers. It's incredibly important to us that these major projects be done right. It's no easy feat to build eight solar plants. We've selected project partners who share our commitment to quality, affordability and efficiency."

FPL's move to expand its solar generation fleet drew kudos from members of the state's environmental community. "The Nature Conservancy wholeheartedly supports Florida's renewable energy future, and we're pleased to see FPL's shared commitment by adding 2.5 million new solar panels at eight new universal solar power plants," said Greg Knecht, deputy executive director of the Florida Chapter of The Nature Conservancy. Added Eric Draper, executive director of Audubon Florida, "An additional eight new solar energy centers is a major step toward reducing carbon emissions and saving water, benefitting the earth and all Floridians."

When completed, the eight new solar facilities are expected to generate enough energy to power approximately 120,000 homes and prevent the release of more than 525,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions annually, the utility estimated. To achieve this level of CO2 reduction, FPL added, over 100,000 vehicles would have to be taken off the road or over 450,000 acres of land would need to be forested. To calculate these estimates, the utility used carbon equivalency data according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (Washington, D.C.).

In a separate announcement last month naming the locations for the eight solar facilities, Silagy thanked communities across the state for their support. "On a per-megawatt basis, these eight new plants will be the lowest-cost solar ever built in Florida and some of the lowest-cost solar ever built in America," he said. "Our steadfast commitment to delivering solar cost-effectively directly benefits our customers, our environment and the economy."

"The per-kW cost to build utility-scale solar continues to decline, making it more competitive with fossil fuels as well as wind energy," commented Britt Burt, Industrial Info's vice president of research for the Global Power Industry. "Bringing these new units on at an average cost of less than $1,500 per kW of capacity represents a dramatic cost reduction from only five years ago."

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