In accordance with Duke Energy Florida’s settlement agreement – which was approved by the FPSC in August 2024 – the company is investing over $521 million to establish solar sites in Madison County (Sundance Renewable Energy Center), Sumter County (Half Moon Renewable Energy Center), Hernando County (Rattler Renewable Energy Center) and Jefferson County (Bailey Mill Renewable Energy Center). All together, these sites are expected to save customers $843 million over their service lifetimes.
To date, the company has broken ground on the Sundance, Half Moon and Rattler renewable energy centers, all of which will be in service by January 2026. Bailey Mill Renewable Energy Center is continuing through the permitting process with the goal of starting construction in the summer of 2025, allowing for it to come online by the summer of 2026. During construction, each solar site will create an average of 150 temporary jobs, and when completed, they will add nearly 300 megawatts of quiet, carbon-free energy to the electric grid.
At peak output, each of the four 74.9-megawatt solar sites will generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of approximately 23,000 homes, while displacing 1.2 million cubic feet of natural gas, 15,000 barrels of fuel oil and 12,000 tons of coal annually.
“At Duke Energy Florida, we work every day to modernize and strengthen our generation fleet,” said Melissa Seixas, Duke Energy Florida state president. “Solar energy is an innovative, cost-effective and clean solution we continue to implement on behalf of our customers all across the Sunshine State.”
