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December 2017

FPL crosses halfway point in plans to add another 2.5 million solar panels

Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) has now installed more than half of the 2.5 million solar panels that will comprise eight new solar power plants powering its customers by early 2018.

Construction activity at the new solar sites is at peak levels with a workforce of more than 1,000 men and women, including military veterans, building the advanced facilities. The eight new plants are part of FPL's larger plan to add more than 10 million solar panels from 2016 to 2023, one of the largest solar expansions ever in the eastern United States.

"We're investing nearly $1 billion to grow solar in Florida this year alone, and we're building each of these new solar power plants cost-effectively," said FPL President and CEO Eric Silagy as he toured the construction site of the future FPL Barefoot Bay Solar Energy Center in Brevard County with community leaders. "Together, these eight new plants are projected to generate an estimated net lifetime savings of more than $100 million for our customers, over and above the cost of construction. Our continued commitment to rapidly expand solar energy while keeping customer bills low demonstrates that it is, in fact, possible to be both clean and affordable."

"FPL's clean energy infrastructure investments continue to pay off for Floridians and give our state's economy a competitive advantage," said Vicki Northrup, an economic development consultant in Brevard County. "Residents and businesses served by FPL are enjoying cleaner energy while continuing to pay significantly less for power than the national average."

Each of the eight new solar plants will be capable of generating 74.5 megawatts of zero-emissions energy when the sun is shining for a combined total of nearly 600 megawatts.

Florida ranks ninth in the nation for solar resource, the strength of the sun's rays, making it a great place for solar. One of the cleanest electric utilities in the nation, FPL projects that solar will outpace coal and oil combined as a percentage of the company's energy mix by the year 2020.

From 2016 to 2023, FPL plans to add more than 2,300 new megawatts of solar, including the approximately 225 megawatts completed in 2016 and the nearly 600 megawatts currently under construction, totaling more than 10 million solar panels in all.

FPL has been studying and operating solar in Florida for more than three decades. In 1984, FPL commissioned its first universal solar installation, a 10-kilowatt PV facility in Miami that helped the company's employees gain experience with the then-emerging technology. Over the years, FPL has continued to test and operate a wide variety of solar technologies.

http://www.fpl.com