The Florida Municipal Power Agency (FMPA), along with 20 municipal utilities and solar developer Origis Energy, has expanded its municipal solar PV portfolio to 600MW.
Once all the projects are completed, it will quadruple the Florida Municipal Solar Project’s current capacity of 150MW which consists of two solar farms, Taylor Creek Solar in Orange County and Harmony Solar in Osceola County.
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In order to reach 600MW of installed solar capacity, the expansion will be carried out in two phases. The first phase will in itself double the current capacity, by adding 150MW between two projects – Rice Creek Solar in Putnam County and Whistling Duck Solar in Levy County – with Rice Creek Solar expected to be operational by the end of the year and Whistling Duck Solar in 2024.
The next phase will add four solar farms and the remaining 300MW capacity, with the projects located in Columbia, Levy and Bradford Counties expected to be completed throughout 2025 and 2026.
By the end of 2026, the Florida Municipal Solar project will have installed more than 1.8 million solar panels across the eight solar farms. Earlier this year, Origis Energy secured a 2GW module supply with thin-film module manufacturer First Solar as the Miami-headquartered developer continued to expand its module supply after securing two bifacial Passivated Emitter and Rear Contact (PERC) supply deals with module manufacturer Boviet Solar for 1.1GW and 700MW in September and July 2022, respectively.
“By partnering with our municipal electric utilities members and Origis Energy, we are able to take advantage of a great opportunity to increase the volume of our low-cost, reliable solar generation at a time when solar costs have been escalating,” said Jacob Williams, general manager and CEO of FMPA.
“Expanding the Florida Municipal Solar Project will also enable us to serve several new communities that haven’t had access to solar before.”
These are the 20 Florida municipal electric utilities that will purchase power from the project: Beaches Energy Services (Jacksonville Beach), Bushnell, Clewiston, Fort Meade, Fort Pierce Utilities Authority, Green Cove Springs, Havana, Homestead, JEA (Jacksonville), Keys Energy Services (Key West), Kissimmee Utility Authority, Lake Worth Beach, Leesburg, Mount Dora, New Smyrna Beach, Newberry, Ocala, Orlando Utilities Commission, Starke, and Winter Park.
