FPL seeks approval for major solar program

Florida Power & Light on Wednesday asked state regulators to approve a major new solar-energy program in which customers could voluntarily pay a charge each month and receive credits for savings produced by the program. The utility filed the proposed “FPL SolarTogether” program at the Florida Public Service Commission.

The utility said in the filing that more than 200 of its largest energy users have committed to participate in the program, which would be open to residential, business and government customers. The utility plans 20 new solar plants, with a total capacity of 1,490 megawatts. The filing said FPL projects long-term savings of $139 million because the increased use of solar would allow it to avoid costs related to natural-gas or other types of power plants.

“The company has developed FPL SolarTogether as a cost-effective opportunity for customers to directly support the expansion of solar power without the need to install solar on their rooftop,” the filing said. “Through FPL SolarTogether, customers will have the option to subscribe to kilowatts of solar capacity from dedicated cost-effective 74.5-megawatt solar power plants built for this program.

Participating customers’ monthly bills will include the cost of their subscribed capacity and credits that reflect the system savings generated by their subscribed capacity.”