Florida Power & Light

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Enlarge

Florida Power & Light Company, the principal subsidiary of FPL Group, Inc. (NYSE: FPL), commonly referred to by its initials, FPL, is a Juno Beach, Florida-based power utility which serves roughly 4.3 million customers in Florida. FPL Group holds power generation assets in more than 20 U.S. states.

Contents

[edit] History

Enlarge

FPL was founded in 1925 by merging together a number of smaller companies providing power and other services to local communities in Florida, and grew rapidly due to the rapid growth in population that state has experienced.

FPL was the first company outside of Japan to win the Deming Prize in 1989. Dr. Noriaki Kano was one the the consultants that helped FPL to reach this stature.

On 20th June 2005, FPL Group completed acquisition of Gexa Energy[1], a retail electricity provider located in Houston and active in the deregulated Texas electricity market. At the time of acquisition, Gexa Energy had grown to over $273 million in 2004 revenues and further had been serving 100,000 total meters within the state of Texas. FPL Group acquired Gexa Energy for approximately US$81 million.

On 19th December 2005, FPL Group, Inc. announced that it was purchasing Constellation Energy in a merger transaction valued at more than US$11 billion and that it would adopt "Constellation Energy" as its name for the post-merger entity. The merger was cancelled on 25 October 2006.[1]

[edit] Nuclear plants

FPL is majority owner and operator of the Seabrook, St. Lucie and Turkey Point nuclear power plants. On 27th January 2006, FPL Energy closed the sale transaction of 70% ownership in Duane Arnold Energy Center, located in Iowa [2].

[edit] Solar power plants

FPL Energy is the co-owner of the SEGS solar power plants, the largest array in the world.

[edit] Wind farms

FPL Energy owns 43 wind farms in 15 states throughout the U.S. One particular wind farm, Cerro Gordo Wind Farm, is located in Cerro Gordo County, Iowa.

[edit] Hurricane Wilma

After Hurricane Wilma, FPL reported that about 3 million customers were without power in the South Florida area. About 20 days later, with the help of other power companies, FPL restored the majority of power in Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties. The company was criticized for the time required for restoration, as well as a rate increase requested for hurricane repair costs and increased fuel costs.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ FPL, Constellation cancel planned merger. Retrieved on 2006-10-25.