Hybrid solar plant to reduce need for fossil fuel

Proclaiming green the new gold, Florida Power & Light executives on Tuesday marked the groundbreaking of the first of three new solar power projects that will eventually make the state No. 2 in the nation for energy from the sun.

FPL says the facility in southeast Florida will be the world's first hybrid solar plant to connect to an existing fossil fuel plant. It will use the sun's power to generate steam and offset the use of natural gas, making the facility more energy efficient, company officials said.

"When heat from the sun is available to produce electricity, we're going to use less natural gas," said Lewis Hay III, chairman and CEO of FPL Group, Inc., Florida Power & Light's parent company.

The $476 million plant will produce 75 megawatts of solar capacity, enough to make electricity to power up to 11,000 homes.

The Martin County facility will use more than 180,000 mirrors on about 500 acres of land to capture the sun's power. It is set for completion in 2010.

Construction on two other FPL solar plants is planned for next year. Once complete, the three units will produce 110 megawatts, making Florida the United States' second leading producer of electricity from the sun behind California.

Hay compared solar technology to the advent of the Toyota Prius, first considered "experiments, at best."

He noted that sales of the hybrid car have risen from 15,000 in 2001 to more than 180,000 last year.

"That's what I hope for solar power, as well," Hay said.

FPL Group, which provides electricity in 27 states, is already the nation's top producer of wind and solar power.

The new facility will also be the nation's largest solar thermal plant outside of California, where FPL Group operates a 310-megawatt site in the Mojave Desert.

Solar thermal technology uses sunlight to produce steam, which is used to generate electricity. The public is more familiar with photovoltaic solar technology, smaller systems typically found on homes and office buildings that produce less power and use special panels to collect sunlight and convert it directly into electricity.

The nation's largest photovoltaic site is at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, producing about 14 megawatts.

"There is gold in green," said Florida's Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp, noting the expansion of solar technology can bolster the economy by creating more high-paying jobs.

Audubon of Florida lauded FPL's solar projects as "a concrete step toward solving the great threats of climate change."

"This is not only good for Florida's birds and wildlife, it is important to sustain Florida's economy and our quality of life now and in the future," said Audubon of Florida President David Anderson. "All of us at Audubon applaud FPL."