Florida Power & Light to Shutter Third Coal-fired Power Plant

Published: July 6, 2017 |

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Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) filed a petition with the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) for approval to shut down the St. Johns River Power Park (SJRPP) at the end of this year. SJRPP is a coal-fired power plant jointly owned by FPL and JEA, the municipally-owned electric provider for the City of Jacksonville.

The approximately 1,300-megawatt plant has served customers of the two utilities well for many years, but it is no longer economical to operate. The retirement of the plant is expected to save FPL customers $183 million.

“While the St. Johns River Power Park has been an important part of both FPL’s and JEA’s power generation mix for decades, it’s time to retire the plant,” said Eric Silagy, president and CEO of FPL.

In 1981, the PSC approved a request by FPL and JEA to build SJRPP to provide affordable power generated by a source other than oil — the fuel for the majority of FPL’s plants at that time. FPL owns 20 percent of the facility, with an additional long-term agreement between the two utilities that has resulted in the partners sharing the power output and operating expenses equally.

Located in Jacksonville, SJRPP is currently one of the highest-cost generating facilities to operate and maintain for both FPL’s and JEA’s systems. Advances in technology have made cleaner, more fuel-efficient power generation from natural gas and solar more cost-effective, and the addition of a third major natural gas pipeline into Florida will soon make it possible for the generation of clean, affordable power to serve Floridians’ needs without SJRPP and two other coal plants that FPL is shutting down.

FPL has asked the PSC to review this request and make its decision by December 2017, so that SJRPP can be closed down at the end of the year and the projected customer benefits can be realized sooner.

“This is the third coal power plant FPL is phasing out in two years while we continue to invest in major advances in solar and natural gas energy centers,” said Silagy.

Over the last two years, FPL bought out existing contracts with two independently owned coal-fired power plants with the goal of shutting down both plants, saving hundreds of millions of dollars for customers. The first of these, the Cedar Bay plant in Jacksonville, ceased operations at the end of 2016. The second, the Indiantown Co-generation plant in Martin County, is on track to close by the end of 2019. FPL continues to look for additional opportunities to save customers money and generate cleaner energy.

CONTINUING TO INVEST IN HIGH-EFFICIENCY NATURAL GAS TECHNOLOGY

As the company continues to invest in cleaner, more fuel-efficient natural gas technology, FPL plans to retire its Lauderdale Plant in Dania Beach, Fla., the site of FPL’s first power plant in 1927. The current plant was last updated nearly a quarter-century ago and continues to operate some components that date back to the 1950s.

FPL also filed for approval of the first step in the comprehensive review and permitting process for its planned FPL Dania Beach Clean Energy Center, which would begin serving FPL customers by mid-2022 with approximately 1,200 megawatts of 24-7 capacity. The new facility is projected to generate approximately $400 million in net cost savings for FPL customers — over and above the cost of construction — during its operational life.

Importantly, the advanced efficiency of the new plant would generate more power using less fuel, reducing FPL’s system-wide natural gas consumption.

“Our strategy of phasing out older power-generating units and investing in new, high-efficiency clean energy centers continues to save customers millions of dollars on fuel costs. “The modernization of our Dania Beach property — home to FPL power plants for nearly a century — will enable us to continue to meet South Florida’s energy needs while reducing emissions and FPL’s use of natural gas system wide,” said Eric Silagy.

About Florida Power & Light Company
Florida Power & Light Company is the third-largest electric utility in the United States, serving approximately 4.9 million customer accounts or an estimated 10 million people across nearly half of the state of Florida. FPL’s typical 1,000-kWh residential customer bill is approximately 25 percent lower than the latest national average and, in 2016, was the lowest in Florida among reporting utilities for the seventh year in a row. FPL’s service reliability is better than 99.98 percent, and its highly fuel-efficient power plant fleet is one of the cleanest among all utilities nationwide. The company received the top ranking in the southern U.S. among large electric providers, according to the J.D. Power 2016 Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction StudySM, and was recognized in 2016 as one of the most trusted U.S. electric utilities by Market Strategies International. A leading Florida employer with approximately 8,900 employees, FPL is a subsidiary of Juno Beach, Florida-based NextEra Energy, Inc., a clean energy company widely recognized for its efforts in sustainability, ethics and diversity, and has been ranked No. 1 in the electric and gas utilities industry in Fortune’s 2017 list of “World’s Most Admired Companies.” NextEra Energy is also the parent company of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, which, together with its affiliated entities, is the world’s largest generator of renewable energy from the wind and sun.

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