Solar Trees coming to downtown West Palm Beach

A combined vision to advance clean energy has brought life to a new kind of solar that harnesses the sun and provides visitors of the Palm Beaches with shade and covered parking thanks to Florida Power & Light’s SolarNow program.

These distinctive solar trees and canopies at five public parks add an educational and interactive component to solar. Their design allows solar to be easily integrated into urban landscapes.

From shading visitors’ vehicles to charging their cell phones, these unique solar arrays can be found at Barrier-Free Park, Oceanfront Park, Palm Beach Gardens Aquatic Center, Joe Russo Athletic Complex and soon, Howard Park.

FPL and the city have partnered to plant three solar trees with table chargers as well as real trees at Howard Park.

Once complete, these six parks combined will be powering the grid with more than 300 kilowatts of emissions-free energy to benefit all FPL customers.

This partnership offers people an opportunity to see and learn about solar up close — something many have never experienced because solar panels are usually located out of sight on rooftops, or at universal solar energy centers such as those FPL is building across the state.

In addition, these solar installations pique the curiosity of visitors and encourage discussion about sustainability.

And it’s all thanks to more than 30,000 SolarNow participants. FPL SolarNow is a voluntary program that allows customers who support solar, and want to see it in their local communities, an opportunity to do so.

This partnership offers people an opportunity to see and learn about solar up close — something many have never experienced because solar panels are usually located out of sight on rooftops, or at universal solar energy centers such as those FPL is building across the state.