Florida Power & Light

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Florida Power & Light Company logo

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 4.4 million customers in Florida. FPL Group holds power generation assets in more than 20 U.S. states.

1 History
2 Nuclear plants
3 Solar power plants
4 Wind farms
5 Hurricane Wilma
6 See also
7 References
8 External links

[edit] History

FPL Group, Inc. logo

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 consultants that helped FPL to reach this stature.

On June 20, 2005, FPL Group completed acquisition of Gexa Energy [2], 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 December 19, 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]

On June 6, 2007, the state of Florida rejected FPL's proposal to build a Coal burning power plant on 5,000 acres (20 km²) in Moore Haven-the western edge of Lake Okeechobee-citing concerns that it would emit toxic mercury in the lake and also harm the Everglades. FPL stated that the decision could result in higher electricity rates for customers.

On February 18, 2008 environmental activists held a protest at the entrance to the West County Energy Center, a 3,800 megawatt gas/diesel power plant in the making, in which 27 people were arrested. The protesters argued to the media that the location of the power plant, less than 1000 feet from the northern point of the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, would endanger the entire Everglades ecosystem including the approximately thirty threatened or endagered species that live in the refuge. The protesters also highlighted the issue that millions of gallons of waste water will be deep-well injected below the Floridan aquifer daily, putting a strain on water supplies in South Florida if the power plant is completed. ^[2]

On February 26, 2008, a large power outage occurred after eight power plants went off-line in the region which affected approximately 600,000 to 800,000 Florida residents.^[3]

[edit] Nuclear plants

FPL is majority owner and operator of the Seabrook, St. Lucie and Turkey Point nuclear power plants. On January 27, 2006, FPL Energy closed the sale transaction of 70% ownership in Duane Arnold Energy Center, located in Iowa [3]. On October 1, 2007, FPL completed a purchase of the Point Beach Plant north of Two Rivers, Wisconsin from Milwaukee-based WE Energies for $924 million [4].

[edit] Solar power plants

FPL Energy is the co-owner of the SEGS solar power plants, the largest array in the world.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Wind farms

FPL Energy is currently one of the largest owner and operator of wind turbines in the world, second after Iberdrola. FPL Energy, through its subsidiaries, currently operates 47 wind farms across 15 states in the U.S., with a gross capacity of 4,002 megawatts, which is enough capacity to provide electricity for nearly one million average U.S. homes. Its gross wind capacity for 2007 is expected to be 5,000MW (Iberdrola's expected capcity is 7,000MW) Since July 2005 FPL Energy has added approximately 880 megawatts of new wind power in the U.S. and has more than 220 megawatts under construction and expected to reach commercial operation by the end of the year.^[4] It owns and operates the Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center in Taylor County, Texas, the biggest wind farm in the US.^[5]

[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.^{[citation needed]}