US utility Florida Power & Light has announced its ’30-by-30’ initiative to expand their renewables portfolio.
by Nicholas Nhede
The initiative aims to install more than 30 million solar panels by 2030 and the project will be the largest including solar installation by a regulated utility in the world.
The program will help FPL to achieve a 67 percent fleet-wide reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, compared to the national average.
The plan will make Florida a world leader in solar adoption and will include investing in energy storage to optimise renewable energy generation, storage and use.
Eric Silagy, CEO of FPL, said: “FPL is not your traditional electric company.
“We’re a technology company that delivers power, and we’ve long believed in making smart, forward-thinking infrastructure investments to produce tangible, long-term benefits – cleaner air, lower electric rates and reliable service – for our customers and our state.
“Now we’re taking our long-standing clean energy commitment to the next level. Bottom line, this bold, innovative plan is the right thing to do for our customers and for our fast-growing state, and we look forward to working with local and state officials and our regulators to make this vision a reality.”
“As Florida’s energy needs continue to grow at a rapid pace, it is important that we diversify our energy resources. This is vital to the economic well-being of our State and quality of life for residents.”
The company’s first investment in solar was in 1984, a 10KW photovoltaic facility in Miami. Today, FPL is operating 18 utility-scale solar power plants and hundreds of other universal solar installations across Florida.
“It’s why our customers enjoy electricity that is among the cleanest and most reliable in the country for a price more than 30% below the national average, added Silagy.
The plan will allow the utility to generate 40 percent of its energy from emission-free resources by 2030.
Efforts by FPL to retire fossil fuel energy generation has resulted in reducing its reliance on foreign oil more than 99%, saving its customers more than $9.5 billion in fuel costs and in preventing 120 million tons of carbon emissions from being produced.
The utility serves more than five million customer accounts or an estimated 10 million+ people across the state of Florida.
This article was first published on Smart Energy International and was reprinted with permission.
