INDIANTOWN, FL -- Florida Power & Light broke ground on a hybrid solar power plant in Indiantown, which the company says will become the first of its kind in the world.
"With today’s announcement the sun shines even brighter in the sunshine state," said Florida Lt. Governor Jeff Kottcamp, on hand to witness the ground breaking.
Just as a hybrid car switches back and forth between gas and electric power as needed, FPL officials say this plant will alternate between solar power and natural gas.
The company showed off a mirrored solar cell that will become the basis of the new power generation. It's designed to adjust to focus the sun’s rays, creating enough heat to run the turbines at the neighboring Martin Power Plant, generating electricity.
And if the sun’s not shining, the plant reverts back to natural gas power, as it always has.
"We’re going to have 500 acres covered with solar panels like this," Armando Olivera, FPL's president and C.E.O. told Newschannel 5.
9,000 mirrored panels will blanket the Indiantown site, making it the biggest solar plant outside of California, large enough to power 11,000 homes
Governor Charlie Crist wants to encourage clean energy, including solar, so the state has allowed FPL to pass the cost of this and smiler projects on to rate payers. According to FPL, it will mean an extra 31 cents on the average monthly power bill.
"You know if fuel prices go through the sky as they just did just recently, this stuff will more than pay for itself because the cost of fuel is zero. We don't pay for the sun," said Olivera.
Olivera says he doesn’t think solar will ever meet all of Florida’s power needs, but he sees it as a big player in the future, and he’s planning to build two more plants like this one.
"There isn’t a one solution for the energy needs in this country but we really believe solar and wind can play a far, far greater role," he says.
FPL expects the solar hybrid plant in Indiantown will be ready to come online in 2010.
