FPL, the utility owned by NextEra Energy, plans to build a 409-megawatt energy storage project – the equivalent of approximately 100 million iPhone batteries. The future FPL Manatee Energy Storage Center should be operational in late 2021.
Wood Mackenzie senior storage analyst Dan Finn-Foley said the project is the largest to be unveiled in the U.S. to date and will be four times the size of the world’s largest on a megawatt basis, according to Green Tech Media.
Manatee will be able to distribute 900 megawatt-hours of electricity, enough to power 329,000 homes for 2 hours, and will be charged using an existing FPL solar power plant in Manatee County. By using stored energy when there is a higher demand for power, this will reduce the demand for running other power plants, thus reducing emissions even further.
“Replacing a large, aging fossil fuel plant with a mega battery that’s adjacent to a large solar plant is another world-first accomplishment and while I’m very pleased with that fact, what I’m most proud of is that our team remained committed to developing this clean energy breakthrough while saving customers money and keeping their bills among the lowest in the nation,” Eric Silagy, president and CEO of FPL, said.
Silagy is referring to two aging natural gas-fired power plants, built in the 1970s. Besides the Manatee storage center, FPL is also planning on installing a number of smaller battery units across the state, as well as more solar power plants. The project will save customers more than $100 million and eliminate more than 1 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
