FPL planning to build another solar farm
Utility buys nearly 1,300 acres in western Palm Beach County.
In a sign Florida Power & Light is boosting its bet on solar power, the state’s largest utility paid $19.3 million for 1,288 acres in western Palm Beach County.
Ashley Barrett Bloom of SVN Florida Land Alliance, who represented the seller in the transaction, said FPL plans a solar farm.
The tract, in an unincorporated area near The Acreage and the newly incorporated municipality of Westlake, is bordered on three sides by a residential project planned by GL Homes.
The seller was Iota Carol LLC of Newport Beach, Calif., according to property records.
This proposed solar farm is in addition to a 401-acre solar plant FPL plans in Westlake.
In early March, FPL powered up its four newest solar plants, bringing to 14 the total number
of FPL solar farms in operation statewide. Those solar plants are in St. Lucie, Indian River, Brevard and Hendry counties.
The expansion is part of FPL’s ambitious plan to ramp up production of solar power. Its 14 solar plants generate 930 megawatts of electricity. FPL aims to quadruple that to more than 4,000 megawatts over the next decade.
FPL’s embrace of solar power is driven by a couple of factors, including plunging prices for solar panels.
“The costs continue to come down, so it’s becoming more and more competitive,” said Andy Smith, an analyst at Edward Jones in St. Louis.
Even with President Donald Trump imposing tariffs on solar panels and the materials used to make panels, solar power is growing more affordable, said Stephen Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.
”Solar can actually compete with natural gas,” Smith said. “The economics are definitely a strong driver.”
While the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy in the past has criticized FPL for brushing off solar, Smith welcomed the utility’s new focus on the renewable energy source.
”One of the best resources Florida has is sunshine,” Smith said.
Giving FPL an additional push, state regulators have begun to account more generously for utilities’ investments in solar plants, allowing companies to recover their investments in solar more quickly than if they were to build plants fired by fossil fuels. As a result, FPL and other large utilities in the state are ramping up investment in solar power.
“For solar, they’re getting favorable treatment,” Andy Smith said.
FPL expects to snap up so many solar panels in the coming years that in March it announced a deal to buy 7 million panels from a Chinese supplier, JinkoSolar. As part of the agreement, JinkoSolar said it would open a manufacturing plant in Jacksonville.
In a January call with analysts, NextEra Chief Financial Officer John Ketchum said FPL has embarked on “one of the largest solar expansions ever in the eastern U.S.”
FPL is a unit of Juno Beach-based NextEra Energy (NYSE: NEE). With 2017 revenue of $17 billion, NextEra is the largest company headquartered in Palm Beach County. And with a market capitalization of nearly $75 billion, it’s the nation’s most richly valued utility.