JUNO BEACH, Fla. – Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) today announced residential subscriptions for its FPL SolarTogether™ program have sold out, with more than 48,000 customers enrolled and approximately 2,000 customers on the waitlist for future capacity. The news comes just over a year after the Florida Public Service Commission (FPSC) unanimously approved the program, marking a significant milestone for the nation’s largest community solar program.
“We developed the FPL SolarTogether™ program because customers wanted access to clean, cost-effective solar energy, and the response to the program was almost immediate,” said Eric Silagy, President and CEO of FPL. “By participating, our dedicated FPL SolarTogether™ customers are encouraging the buildout of cost-effective solar across the state, making Florida the largest, most affordable and most accessible solar state in the nation.”
For a low monthly cost, both residential and commercial FPL SolarTogether™ customers can meet up to 100% of their energy needs by subscribing to solar capacity without any upfront costs or long-term commitments. The program allows both renters and homeowners to get the financial and environmental benefits of solar without needing to invest in their own solar panels.
The SolarTogether™ program is supported by the 20 new universal solar energy centers FPL has built across the state. The latest site – the FPL Fort Drum Solar Energy Center in Okeechobee County – began generating clean, emissions-free energy for customers at the end of June, but, due to the popularity of the program, both residential and commercial subscriptions were sold out months before the FPL Fort Drum Solar Energy Center went online.
Subscriptions for the standard residential portion of the program sold out in April, however interested customers may still join the program’s waitlist for future program availability. The waitlist currently includes approximately 2,000 residential customers. The commercial, industrial and government portion of the program saw an even more robust response with businesses emphasizing their sustainability goals.
“Going green as a company can seem like a major undertaking,” explained Walker Crego, Facilities Manager at FHP Manufacturing Corporation - the first company enrolled in the FPL SolarTogether™ program. “FPL SolarTogether™ eased our efforts by helping us to harness the power of the sun to power our business and benefit the environment, without the need for special, costly equipment. With FPL SolarTogether™, we are already enjoying savings."
Within a month of the program’s launch, FPL had to close the waitlist for the commercial, industrial and government portion of the program after it sold out and generated a 1,700 MW waitlist. That’s equivalent to approximately 34,000 residential subscriptions.
The program also allocated a portion of its solar capacity to FPL SolarTogether™ SunAssist – the largest low-income community solar offering in the United States. FPL SunAssist is an affordable way for eligible customers to use clean energy to lower their monthly bills with no upfront costs, credit checks, rooftop installations, contracts or maintenance. FPL SunAssist has achieved a 50% subscription rate in the six months the program has been available.
The 20 new universal solar energy centers that support the FPL SolarTogether™ program also play an important role in FPL’s “30-by-30” plan to install 30 million solar panels by 2030. With the new centers, FPL now has more than 40 operational solar energy centers across the state – all of which are benefiting FPL customers by reducing the company’s already-low fuel costs and adding more solar power to the company’s energy generation mix. When the company completes its “30-by-30” plan, solar energy will make up an estimated 20% of FPL’s energy generation mix.
“Our ‘30-by-30’ initiative will bring over 11,700 MW of cost-effective solar energy to Florida by 2030,” said Silagy. “To put that in perspective, that’s enough energy to power more than 2 million homes.”
FPL’s current solar commitments are expected to save customers an estimated $400 million over the life of the assets. FPL SolarTogether™, alone, is expected to generate $249 million in net cost savings for both participants and customers. Customers interested in updates about the FPL SolarTogether™ program or anyone who wants to learn more about FPL’s solar offerings can visit www.FPL.com/Solar.
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Editor’s note: Please find relevant photos here.
Florida Power & Light Company
Florida Power & Light Company is the largest energy company in the U.S. as measured by retail electricity produced and sold. The company serves more than 5.6 million customer accounts supporting more than 11 million residents across Florida with clean, reliable and affordable electricity. FPL operates one of the cleanest power generation fleets in the U.S and in 2020 won the ReliabilityOne ® National Reliability Excellence Award for the fifth time in the last six years. The company was recognized in 2020 as one of the most trusted U.S. electric utilities by Escalent for the seventh consecutive year. FPL is a subsidiary of Juno Beach, Florida-based NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE), 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 2021 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 and a world leader in battery storage. For more information about NextEra Energy companies, visit these websites: www.NextEraEnergy.com, www.FPL.com, www.NextEraEnergyResources.com.