Duke Energy Florida completed the construction of a 74.9-MW community solar project in Hardee County, Florida.
Credit: Duke Energy Florida
The Fort Green Renewable Energy Center is the first of 10 solar sites, totaling 750 MW, that is part of the company’s new community solar program, Clean Energy Connection.
Through the program, Duke Energy Florida customers can subscribe to solar power and earn credits toward their electricity bills without installing or maintaining their own equipment.
“Bringing cleaner resources onto the grid is important to our customers and our company,” said Melissa Seixas, state president of Duke Energy Florida. “By subscribing to the Clean Energy Connection program and supporting solar sites like this one, our customers are joining a community that is helping drive Florida to a cleaner energy future.”
Fort Green was built on approximately 500 acres of repurposed mining land in Hardee County. The project consists of nearly 265,000 solar panels on a fixed-tilt racking system.
The second Clean Energy Connection site, Bay Trail Renewable Energy Center in Citrus County, is expected to begin supporting Clean Energy Connection subscriptions later this summer.
The program sets aside 26 MW for income-qualified customers who participate in government subsidy programs or Duke Energy’s low-income energy efficiency program, Neighborhood Energy Saver.
News item from Duke Energy Florida
One has to go back to around 2016 in Florida when Duke and FP&L ran a voter initiative campaign Amendment 1 that was designed to protect the “regulated monopoly” of the IOU electric utilities. The voters rejected this so now the only way to cement control over the grid to try and keep it a uni-directional grid with generation controlled by the utility. Now Duke and FP&L is now on track to construct MWh of solar PV generation to grab any RECS available and keep control of the generation and dispatch of energy in the State. Morale of the story, the utilities will be “onboard” when they can’t Legislate protection for themselves, they will build their own generation and control the generation and the cost to the ratepayers. Duke seems to be moving towards ratepayers as partners instead of meter numbers. What could be up their sleeves in the near future?