FPL officials could not say for sure when the plant would become operational. But as per the Public Service Commission’s (PSC) 2008 annual report, the plant will be completed in 2010.
The plant will provide 10 megawatts (MW), enough power to serve around 1,100 homes.
Customers will absorb the cost.
In May 2009, the company has filed a petition with the PSC for approval of the plant and two other solar energy projects, for a total of 110 MW.
The plan also includes a $173.5 million, 25 MW solar plant in DeSoto county, to be completed in 2009, and a $476.3 million, 75 MW solar plant in Martin county, to be completed in 2010.
In June 2009, Governor Charlie Crist signed into law a measure that allows power companies to pass on to customers the cost of construction of around 110 MW of renewable power, statewide. Two months later, the PSC said FPL’s three planned solar plants were eligible for such cost recovery. During the November 2008 hearings, PSC approved $25 million related to these projects for cost recovery in 2009.
To avoid conflict with any NASA launches, the groundbreaking on the new KSC solar plant will likely fall sometime in the last week of May, 2009 said Sandy Sanderson, an FPL spokesman.
We’re going to work around their launch schedule, Sanderson said. It looks like the last third of May.
