Florida Power & Light Company changed the Space Coast skyline this morning by demolishing the most visible structures at its 42 acre, 45 year old Cape Canaveral Power Plant, as it prepares to build the Cape Canaveral Next Generation Clean Energy Center, which will open in 2013.
FPL’s Next Generation Clean Energy Center will use approximately 33% less fuel per MW of power generated with advanced combined-cycle, natural gas technology capable of producing 1250 MW of electricity, or enough to power 250,000 homes and businesses. The plant will emit 88% fewer air particulates and 50% less CO2 without any additional water or land use. In addition, the site is designed to meet US Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification and to feature rooftop solar panels and an electric car recharging station.
“Compared with keeping the existing facility in the fleet, FPL estimates that this new unit will save customers hundreds of millions of dollars over the life of the plant,” said FPL President and CEO Armando J. Olivera.
"This FPL project is a perfect example of how making the energy infrastructure in Florida more advanced can add jobs and environmentally friendly solutions," said Incoming Florida Senate President Mike Haridopolos. "We are in need of alternative energy legislation in Florida to bring even more efforts like this to reality."
The Cape Canaveral Next Generation Clean Energy Center is another step FPL has taken on the Space Coast to provide cleaner energy to its customers. In April, FPL commissioned its Space Coast Next Generation Solar Energy Center located on NASA property at Kennedy Space Center. The center is estimated to annually produce 10 MW of clean, emissions-free power, which is enough energy to serve approximately 1100 homes.
FPL’s Space Coast Next Generation Solar Energy Center is the second large-scale solar facility that FPL has completed in Florida. The first, FPL’s DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center, (the country’s largest solar PV facility at 25 MW,) was commissioned in October 2009 by President Barack Obama. Later this year, FPL plans to open the world’s first hybrid solar thermal facility to connect to an existing fossil fuel plant, FPL’s Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center in Indiantown, Fl. It will be the largest of FPL’s solar facilities at 75 MW.