Florida Power & Light is installing 10 new, large-scale battery storage systems in its Northwest Florida service area. The 400-megawatt battery systems will be integrated with the company’s massive solar plants currently producing renewable power in Escambia and Jackson counties. FPL Project Director for Development Stephen Heiman describes the battery systems for Florida Trend and the benefits they will bring to customers.
Current plans: “Since 2018, FPL has been looking at different aspects of energy storage to better understand how it can be used within our system and what benefits it can provide to our customers. Fast forward to today, we are installing 10 of these storage systems across the Panhandle to enhance our grid resiliency and reliability and to give us the ability to deliver reliable electricity in good weather and in bad weather. Seven of the 10 will go online in October, and the final three online next year.”
Goals: “By adding these energy storage systems into the mix, you have the ability to make quick discharges of power at peak demand times and turn them off with the flip of a switch. Right now, our energy is largely made up of natural gas and nuclear. By 2030, we’re planning to be around 20% of overall power produced by solar and renewables.”
Long term: “Solar and renewables are going to be a bigger percentage of our mix. I really want to give a sense that this is a real growing element within FPL’s overall share of our energy production. The idea is that these battery storage systems are a significant component to the solar energy we’re generating on a daily basis. What’s more, it further allows us access to low-cost energy at times when we’re using straight solar.”
Size: “Typical solar energy farms average between 400 and 500 acres. The battery storage systems we’re installing sit on roughly two-acre sites, so they’re a very small footprint overall.”
Remote operation: “FPL takes pride in being very technologically savvy with how we operate our systems safely and reliably. These battery storage systems, along with the solar farms, are mostly operated remotely through our Remote Control Center in South Florida. These are very smart remote systems that allow us to see every aspect of the grid from the charging to discharging of the battery storage system to any type of anomalies within the overall power grid.”
Safety: “The batteries installed in these storage containers are sourced from Samsung and made in South Korea. The batteries and materials contained in them go through very rigorous testing procedures by Underwriters Laboratories.”