Duke Energy’s 15,000 solar panels in Osceola County is now providing carbon-free energy

Duke Energy’s 15,000 solar panels on 17-acre facility soaking up the sun in Osceola County are now providing clean, renewable energy to the customers in Florida.

The new Duke Energy owned and operated Osceola Solar Facility is about the size of 13 football fields and produces nearly 4 megawatts of carbon-free energy. It officially began commercial operation on May 12.

The facility will be inaugurated on Aug 1 at Osceola County Commission meeting. Florida-based Advanced Green Technologies designed, engineered and constructed the facility on 17 acres next to an existing Duke Energy substation in Kenansville.

“As the cost of solar energy continues to decrease and the efficiency of panels grows, we’re increasing our investments in solar,” said Alex Glenn, Duke Energy state president – Florida. “It’s part of our ongoing strategy to offer clean energy and provide customers more options to use renewable energy.”

“When you say Kenansville, people automatically think agriculture. Now they can think technology, too. Solar is a new type of ‘farming’ for my district – one with a positive environmental impact,” said Osceola County Commissioner Fred Hawkins Jr.”Adding a renewable source like solar gives Duke Energy customers a more balanced energy mix and that’s more important today than ever before.”

The solar power plant is the first in a strategic, long-range plan to install 35 megawatts of solar by 2018 and up to 500 megawatts of solar energy in the state by 2024, helping ensure residents have increasingly clean and diverse power sources.

To that end, construction will be wrapping up in August at the 5-megawatt solar plant in Perry (Taylor County). The company is planning to unveil that project in mid-October.

In addition to building universal solar in the Sunshine State, Duke Energy Florida is helping approximately 90 residential and business customers a month install private solar on their property.

Early this year, the company unveiled a 5-megawatt solar power plant in the shape of a “not-so-hidden-Mickey” to serve the Walt Disney World Resort through an agreement with the Reedy Creek Improvement District.