The DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center is a
photovoltaic power station in
Arcadia,
DeSoto County, in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...
of
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
, owned by
Florida Power & Light
Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), the principal subsidiary of NextEra Energy Inc. (formerly FPL Group, Inc.), is the largest power utility in Florida. It is a Juno Beach, Florida-based power utility company serving roughly 5 million customers ...
(FPL).
President
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
attended the plant's commissioning on October 27, 2009. It has a
nameplate capacity
Nameplate capacity, also known as the rated capacity, nominal capacity, installed capacity, or maximum effect, is the intended full-load sustained output of a facility such as a power station, of 25 mega
watt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James ...
s (MW),
[ and produces an estimated 42,000 megawatt hours (MW·h) of electricity per year (an average output of about 4.8 MW).][
][
The plant cost $150 million to construct.][ The plant consists of over 90,000 ]SunPower
SunPower is an American provider of photovoltaic solar energy generation systems and battery energy storage products, primarily for residential customers. The company, headquartered in San Jose, California, was founded in 1985 by Richard Swa ...
solar panels[
] with single-axis trackers on .[
]
FPL has to get a permit for construction of the second stage and had filed for the permit to build the third stage of the plant. At the second stage, 49 MW of capacity will be added. At the third stage, 226 MW of capacity is planned to be added bringing the total capacity of the plant up to 300 MW.[
]
Production
See also
* Solar power in the United States
Solar power includes solar farms as well as local distributed generation, mostly on rooftops and increasingly from community solar arrays. In 2021, utility-scale solar power generated 115 terawatt-hours (TWh), or 2.8% of electricity i ...
* Space Coast Next Generation Solar Energy Center
References
External links
*
{{Solar power in the United States
Photovoltaic power stations in the United States
Buildings and structures in DeSoto County, Florida
NextEra Energy
Power stations in Florida
2009 establishments in Florida
Energy infrastructure completed in 2009