JUNO BEACH, Fla., June 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Florida Power
& Light Company (FPL) has achieved a major milestone by
surpassing 40% completion of its groundbreaking "30-by-30" plan to
install 30 million solar panels by 2030, which is one of the
largest solar expansions in the United
States. To date, FPL has installed more than 12 million
solar panels in Florida, putting
the company well on its way to achieving its "30-by-30" plan.
By the end of this month, FPL is on track to have 42 solar
energy centers in Florida,
including its Discovery Solar Energy Center at Kennedy Space Center, which just became
operational, and one more, which is expected to begin powering
customers with clean energy in the coming weeks. The solar panels
installed across the company's sites are expected to save customers
approximately $421 million over the
lifetime of the assets, while making Florida third in the nation
for solar generation, with a trajectory to be a world leader in
solar capacity by the end of the decade.
"Reaching this milestone is an important step in our commitment
to increase zero-emissions energy as FPL builds a more resilient
and sustainable energy future all of us can depend on, including
future generations," said Eric
Silagy, president and CEO of FPL. "Despite the pandemic, our
team has stayed laser-focused on executing our '30-by-30' plan.
Eight new solar energy centers have begun powering customers with
clean energy so far this year, and three more are scheduled to come
online before the end of this year.
"Nobody in the country is building more solar than FPL," Silagy
continued. "We're dedicated to providing our customers with clean,
affordable and reliable energy, while keeping bills among the
nation's lowest – and our rapid solar expansion helps us
consistently deliver on this promise. In total, FPL customers are
expected to save approximately $421
million from the cost-effective solar investments the
company has made to this point."
By the end of this month, the company will have 42 large-scale
solar energy centers installed throughout Florida, with more than
3,000 megawatts (MW) of solar capacity – more than any other
utility in the U.S. Nearly every solar energy center that becomes
operational in 2021 will also support FPL
SolarTogether™ – the company's popular community solar
program, which is the nation's largest. FPL expects to achieve
another major milestone by early 2022 when it anticipates to have
installed more than 15 million panels, which would put the company
more than 50% of the way toward completing its "30-by- 30"
plan.
By the end of 2030, FPL is planning to have more than 11,700 MW
of universal solar capacity. To support its solar buildout, the
company recently began installing the first components of the
world's largest integrated solar-powered battery system, the 400-MW
FPL Manatee Energy Storage Center. Also, later this month, the
company will demolish its last coal-fired plant in Florida, with plans to replace it with more
clean, emissions-free solar energy power facilities.
"Since FPL first pioneered large-scale solar development in
2009, our industry has seen a transformation of what was once
considered niche technology to solar becoming a dominant source of
energy," Silagy said. "Solar helps us reliably power our millions
of customers, fuels our economy with jobs and benefits our
environment."
NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE), FPL's parent company and the
world's largest generator of renewable energy from the wind and sun
and a world leader in battery storage, recently released its 2021
Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) report at
NextEraEnergy.com/sustainability. The report details the company's
clean-energy initiatives and all of its ESG accomplishments and
commitments.
Visit www.FPL.com/solar for more information on the
company's solar energy expansion.
Florida Power & Light
Company
Florida Power & Light Company is
the largest energy company in the U.S. as measured by retail
electricity produced and sold. The company serves more than 5.6
million customer accounts supporting more than 11 million residents
across Florida with clean, reliable and affordable electricity. FPL
operates one of the cleanest power generation fleets in the U.S
and in 2020 won the ReliabilityOne® National Reliability Excellence
Award for the fifth time in the last six years. The company
was recognized in 2021 as one of the most trusted U.S. electric
utilities by Escalent for the seventh consecutive year. FPL is a
subsidiary of Juno Beach,
Florida-based NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE), a clean
energy company widely recognized for its efforts in sustainability,
ethics and diversity, and has been ranked No. 1 in the electric and
gas utilities industry in Fortune's 2021 list of "World's Most
Admired Companies." NextEra Energy is also the parent company of
NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, which, together with its affiliated
entities, is the world's largest generator of renewable energy from
the wind and sun and a world leader in battery storage. For more
information about NextEra Energy companies, visit these websites:
www.NextEraEnergy.com, www.FPL.com, www.NextEraEnergyResources.com.
Cautionary Statements and Risk Factors That May Affect Future
Results
This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within
the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are not
statements of historical facts, but instead represent the current
expectations of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NextEra Energy) and
Florida Power & Light Company
(FPL) regarding future operating results and other future events,
many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and
outside of NextEra Energy's and FPL's control. In some cases,
you can identify the forward-looking statements by words or phrases
such as "will," "may result," "expect," "anticipate," "believe,"
"intend," "plan," "seek," "potential," "projection," "forecast,"
"predict," "goals," "target," "outlook," "should," "would" or
similar words or expressions. You should not place undue reliance
on these forward-looking statements, which are not a guarantee of
future performance. The future results of NextEra Energy and FPL
and their business and financial condition are subject to risks and
uncertainties that could cause their actual results to differ
materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking
statements, or may require them to limit or eliminate certain
operations. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not
limited to, those discussed in this news release and the following:
effects of extensive regulation of NextEra Energy's and FPL's
business operations; inability of NextEra Energy and FPL to recover
in a timely manner any significant amount of costs, a return on
certain assets or a reasonable return on invested capital through
base rates, cost recovery clauses, other regulatory mechanisms or
otherwise; impact of political, regulatory and economic factors on
regulatory decisions important to NextEra Energy and FPL;
disallowance of cost recovery by FPL based on a finding of
imprudent use of derivative instruments; effect of any reductions
or modifications to, or elimination of, governmental incentives or
policies that support utility scale renewable energy projects of
NextEra Energy Resources, LLC and its affiliated entities (NextEra
Energy Resources) or the imposition of additional tax laws,
policies or assessments on renewable energy; impact of new or
revised laws, regulations, interpretations or ballot or regulatory
initiatives on NextEra Energy and FPL; capital expenditures,
increased operating costs and various liabilities attributable to
environmental laws, regulations and other standards applicable to
NextEra Energy and FPL; effects on NextEra Energy and FPL of
federal or state laws or regulations mandating new or additional
limits on the production of greenhouse gas emissions; exposure of
NextEra Energy and FPL to significant and increasing compliance
costs and substantial monetary penalties and other sanctions as a
result of extensive federal regulation of their operations and
businesses; effect on NextEra Energy and FPL of changes in tax
laws, guidance or policies as well as in judgments and estimates
used to determine tax-related asset and liability amounts; impact
on NextEra Energy and FPL of adverse results of litigation; effect
on NextEra Energy and FPL of failure to proceed with projects under
development or inability to complete the construction of (or
capital improvements to) electric generation, transmission and
distribution facilities, gas infrastructure facilities or other
facilities on schedule or within budget; impact on development and
operating activities of NextEra Energy and FPL resulting from risks
related to project siting, financing, construction, permitting,
governmental approvals and the negotiation of project development
agreements; risks involved in the operation and maintenance of
electric generation, transmission and distribution facilities, gas
infrastructure facilities, retail gas distribution system in
Florida and other facilities;
effect on NextEra Energy and FPL of a lack of growth or slower
growth in the number of customers or in customer usage; impact on
NextEra Energy and FPL of severe weather and other weather
conditions; threats of terrorism and catastrophic events that could
result from terrorism, cyberattacks or other attempts to disrupt
NextEra Energy's and FPL's business or the businesses of third
parties; inability to obtain adequate insurance coverage for
protection of NextEra Energy and FPL against significant losses and
risk that insurance coverage does not provide protection against
all significant losses; a prolonged period of low gas and oil
prices could impact NextEra Energy Resources' gas infrastructure
business and cause NextEra Energy Resources to delay or cancel
certain gas infrastructure projects and could result in certain
projects becoming impaired; risk to NextEra Energy Resources of
increased operating costs resulting from unfavorable supply costs
necessary to provide NextEra Energy Resources' full energy and
capacity requirement services; inability or failure by NextEra
Energy Resources to manage properly or hedge effectively the
commodity risk within its portfolio; effect of reductions in the
liquidity of energy markets on NextEra Energy's ability to manage
operational risks; effectiveness of NextEra Energy's and FPL's risk
management tools associated with their hedging and trading
procedures to protect against significant losses, including the
effect of unforeseen price variances from historical behavior;
impact of unavailability or disruption of power transmission or
commodity transportation facilities on sale and delivery of power
or natural gas by NextEra Energy, including FPL; exposure of
NextEra Energy and FPL to credit and performance risk from
customers, hedging counterparties and vendors; failure of NextEra
Energy or FPL counterparties to perform under derivative contracts
or of requirement for NextEra Energy or FPL to post margin cash
collateral under derivative contracts; failure or breach of NextEra
Energy's or FPL's information technology systems; risks to NextEra
Energy and FPL's retail businesses from compromise of sensitive
customer data; losses from volatility in the market values of
derivative instruments and limited liquidity in over-the-counter
markets; impact of negative publicity; inability of FPL to
maintain, negotiate or renegotiate acceptable franchise agreements
with municipalities and counties in Florida; occurrence of work strikes or
stoppages and increasing personnel costs; NextEra Energy's ability
to successfully identify, complete and integrate acquisitions,
including the effect of increased competition for acquisitions;
environmental, health and financial risks associated with NextEra
Energy Resources' and FPL's ownership and operation of nuclear
generation facilities; liability of NextEra Energy and FPL for
significant retrospective assessments and/or retrospective
insurance premiums in the event of an incident at certain nuclear
generation facilities; increased operating and capital expenditures
and/or reduced revenues at nuclear generation facilities of NextEra
Energy or FPL resulting from orders or new regulations of the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission; inability to operate any of NextEra
Energy Resources' or FPL's owned nuclear generation units through
the end of their respective operating licenses; effect of
disruptions, uncertainty or volatility in the credit and capital
markets or actions by third parties in connection with
project-specific or other financing arrangements on NextEra
Energy's and FPL's ability to fund their liquidity and capital
needs and meet their growth objectives; inability of NextEra
Energy, FPL and NextEra Energy Capital Holdings, Inc. to maintain
their current credit ratings; impairment of NextEra Energy's and
FPL's liquidity from inability of credit providers to fund their
credit commitments or to maintain their current credit ratings;
poor market performance and other economic factors that could
affect NextEra Energy's defined benefit pension plan's funded
status; poor market performance and other risks to the asset values
of NextEra Energy's and FPL's nuclear decommissioning funds;
changes in market value and other risks to certain of NextEra
Energy's investments; effect of inability of NextEra Energy
subsidiaries to pay upstream dividends or repay funds to NextEra
Energy or of NextEra Energy's performance under guarantees of
subsidiary obligations on NextEra Energy's ability to meet its
financial obligations and to pay dividends on its common stock; the
fact that the amount and timing of dividends payable on NextEra
Energy's common stock, as well as the dividend policy approved by
NextEra Energy's board of directors from time to time, and changes
to that policy, are within the sole discretion of NextEra Energy's
board of directors and, if declared and paid, dividends may be in
amounts that are less than might be expected by shareholders;
NextEra Energy Partners, LP's inability to access sources of
capital on commercially reasonable terms could have an effect on
its ability to consummate future acquisitions and on the value of
NextEra Energy's limited partner interest in NextEra Energy
Operating Partners, LP; effects of disruptions, uncertainty or
volatility in the credit and capital markets on the market price of
NextEra Energy's common stock; and the ultimate severity and
duration of public health crises, epidemics and pandemics,
including the coronavirus pandemic, and its effects on NextEra
Energy's or FPL's businesses. NextEra Energy and FPL discuss these
and other risks and uncertainties in their annual report on Form
10-K for the year ended December 31,
2020 and other Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
filings, and this news release should be read in conjunction with
such SEC filings. The forward-looking statements made in this news
release are made only as of the date of this news release and
NextEra Energy and FPL undertake no obligation to update any
forward-looking statements.
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SOURCE Florida Power & Light
Company; NextEra Energy, Inc.