POWER July 2011 - 72

ELECTRIC POWER 2011: WHERE THE GENCOS MEET
2. Record-setting plant. The 25-MW DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center was a
POWER 2010 Top Plant. A detailed profile of the facility is available in the December 2010 issue
of POWER and in our archives at www.powermag.com. Courtesy: FPL
commercial-scale solar power plants in the
Sunshine State (Florida) since 2009.
FPL's three utility-scale solar facilities
make Florida a leading U.S. producer of solar
energy:
■ The Martin County 75-MW solar thermal
facility. The Martin Next Generation Solar
Energy Center is the first hybrid solar
facility in the world to connect to an existing
combined-cycle power plant. It is the
largest thermal solar plant outside of California
and generates enough electricity to
serve about 11,000 homes. A photograph
of this facility appears on the cover of this
issue.
■ The DeSoto County 25-MW solar PV facility.
The DeSoto Next Generation Solar
Energy Center is one of the nation's
largest solar PV facilities. It uses more
than 90,000 panels to turn the sun's rays
into electricity to power more than 3,000
homes, and the project created 400 construction
jobs (Figure 2).
SCE's 2010 energy resource mix breaks
down as follows: natural gas (42%), nuclear
(19%), eligible renewables (18%), coal (12%),
and large hydro (9%). In the eligible renewables
category, the subcategories are: geothermal
(9%), wind (5%), biomass and waste
(2%), solar (1%), and small hydro (1%).
Brieg explained that the 18% of eligible
renewable resources that SCE uses exceeds
the overall percentage of renewable resources
(11%) used by California utilities. He further
contrasted these percentages with the U.S.
total for renewables, which is only 4%.
Brieg also discussed the average retail
prices of electricity per kWh. These range
from a low of $0.06 in Wyoming to a high of
$0.21 in Hawaii; California's average retail
price is $0.13, he said. He pointed out that
" the U.S. total average price per kilowatthour
is 9.83 cents. " (Editor's note: The latest
average retail price of electricity in different
sectors of the economy by state is available
from the Energy Information Administration
at http://bit.ly/mcobY9.)
" Are green jobs good or bad? " Brieg
asked. He then answered by pointing out the
pros and cons of jobs related to renewable
energy. On the downside, green jobs add to
the cost of renewable energy, so currently,
renewables need subsidies to compete with
traditional fossil fuels.
After pointing out these challenges, he
focused on some encouraging developments.
He noted that equipment suppliers are using
robots to reduce labor and manufacturing
costs. Installers are also innovating to reduce
field labor. Operations are increasingly being
designed for remote automatic operation. In
72
addition, to decrease maintenance, many renewable
energy technologies have no or few
moving parts
As for the future of renewable energy in
the U.S., Brieg described what he considered
to be the important issues and barriers related
to promoting the widespread use of these alternative
technologies:
■ Resource availability
■ The cost to electric ratepayers and taxpayers
■ Grid integration
■ The intermittent, variable nature of renewables
■
Transmission
■ Connection Standard IEEE 1547
On the positive side, he pointed out that
there is now " significant use of renewables in
California and a decreased reliance on coal. "
FPL: Advancing a Clean Energy
Economy
" We believe it is our company's duty to address
climate change head-on and provide clean energy
today and for future generations, " said
Ryan Fair, manager of Project Development
at Florida Power & Light (FPL).
He explained that NextEra Energy is a large
U.S. power company composed of two businesses:
NextEra Energy Resources, a wholesale
generator and U.S. leader in renewable
generation, and FPL, one of the largest U.S.
electric utilities, with 4.5 million customer accounts
and 23,772 MW in operation.
NextEra Energy is the largest U.S. wind
energy generator; it produces 8,078 MW of
electricity. In addition, FPL has opened three
www.powermag.com
■ The Space Coast/Kennedy Space Center
10-MW solar PV facility. The Space Coast
Next Generation Solar Energy Center was
the first U.S. private/public partnership for
a solar project.
Fair described the impact of one 100-MW
solar plant based on statistics compiled by FPL:
■ Oil consumption avoided: approximately
700,000 barrels.
■ Cars removed from the road each year:
17,600.
■ Natural gas consumption avoided: 40 billion
cubic feet.
■ Greenhouse gas emissions avoided: 3 million
tons.
■ Projected tax revenues: $50 million.
■ Job creation: 4,000.
" If the state were to enable utilities to
pursue renewable energy projects up to 2%
of revenues, FPL would immediately begin
construction of more than 500 MW of new
solar projects, " Fair said.
Several FPL projects are permitted and
shovel-ready. If these projects move forward,
there is the potential for the creation
of approximately 10,000 to 15,000 new direct
and indirect jobs in the first three years,
he explained.
Looking down the road, Fair emphasized
the increasing importance of solar energy:
" With a strong commitment from the state
and investments by utilities, consumers,
businesses, universities, etc., we can lay the
groundwork for a clean energy economy. " ■
-Angela Neville, JD, is POWER's
senior editor.
POWER | July 2011

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POWER July 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of POWER July 2011