An alliance consisting of the Florida Municipal Power Agency (FMPA), 20 Florida municipal electric utilities and Origis Energy announced a significant expansion of the existing 150 MW plant Florida Municipal Solar Projectwhich is one of the largest municipally funded solar projects in the United States
The project currently consists of two solar farms, Taylor Creek Solar in Orange County and Harmony Solar in Osceola County. The expansion will go through two phases of expansion, leveraging Origis Energy’s established capabilities as a solar developer and solar EPC service provider.
Two additional solar farms will be built in the first phase: Rice Creek Solar in Putnam County and Whistling Duck Solar in Levy County. The former is due to be completed by the end of this year, while the latter is due to be completed in 2024. When both are online, they will add almost 150 MW of new solar capacity to the current project.
In the second phase of the expansion, four more solar parks will be built in Columbia, Levy and Bradford Counties. The construction and operation of these locations will take place in stages over the years 2025 and 2026. Upon completion, the Florida Municipal Solar Project is expected to deliver approximately 600 MW of solar power, four times the amount currently generated by the project.
This large-scale solar project enables utility companies to provide solar energy to their customers in the most cost-effective way. The alliance stated that the solar cost of this project is only about a third of the cost of a typical rooftop solar system.
Jacob Williams, general manager and CEO of FMPA, said, “By partnering with our community electric utilities and Origis Energy, we are able to take advantage of a tremendous opportunity to increase the volume of our low-cost, reliable solar power generation at a time when solar costs have been skyrocketing.”
“The expansion of the Florida Municipal Solar Project will also allow us to serve several new communities that previously did not have access to solar energy,” Williams added.