As the population in Polk County grows, so does its appetite for electricity.

Construction recently started for a new Duke Energy electric utility substation in Auburndale. The project is one of the initial steps toward moving electricity for 48 miles in two directions from the Osprey Energy Center along new transmission lines to Kathleen and Haines City.

The project is set for completion by the summer of 2024. Dodge Data & Analytics listed the value of the Polk County Reliability Enhancement Project at $52 million.

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The two new 230-kilovolt transmission lines “will help avoid overloads on the existing Duke Energy transmission system," said Ana Gibbs, spokeswoman for Duke Energy. “The new transmission infrastructure will also provide the opportunity for future economic development and growth in the region.”

Clean energy

The Osprey to Kathleen transmission line will extend from the Osprey Energy Center approximately 26 miles northwest to the existing Kathleen substation in Polk County. Substations reduce the voltage from the transmission lines to a grid of poles and wires on a distribution system spanning neighborhoods that provide power to homes and businesses.

The project would not impact Lakeland Electric customers.

Vegetation removal and construction of the transmission line began in the spring. Construction of a new Osprey Substation at 1708 Derby Road began in 2021 near the Duke Energy-owned Osprey Energy Center in Auburndale. The project covers areas in Polk County, Kathleen, Haines City, and Auburndale, among others.

The support structures will be single-poles made of steel or concrete at approximately 90 to 110 feet high. Easement acquisitions will continue through early 2023 with line construction set for completion by summer 2024.

“Duke Energy is committed to providing reliable, safe and increasingly clean energy,” Gibbs said. “We’re improving our transmission infrastructure – the backbone of our state’s energy system – powering communities and helping to build the smarter, cleaner energy future.”

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The Duke Energy-owned Osprey Energy Center is located in a region experiencing high population growth.

The project to construct a new Osprey Substation and two new transmission lines was announced in 2018.

Osprey Energy Center is a natural gas fired 537 megawatt, two-unit combined-cycle facility in Auburndale, a Power magazine report in January 2017 said. Duke Energy purchased the power plant from independent power producer, Calpine Construction Finance Co., for $166 million. The transaction was completed in 2017.

Generating electricity

Duke Energy's plans to expand power generation are outlined in its 10-Year Site Plan submitted in April to the Florida Public Service Commission. The document includes the addition of solar power generation of over 3,100 megawatts and 214 megawatts of new natural gas-fired generation by 2029 as well as gaining full capacity at the Osprey Energy Center.

The facility is generating electricity at 40% capacity and the transmission line would open up additional generating capacity.

The plans also shows Duke Energy is interconnected with 21 municipal and nine rural electric cooperative systems that serve additional customers in Florida.

The transmission system in Florida is interconnected and used by all utilities in the state and their customers, Gibbs said. This project will help strengthen reliability and enable Duke Energy and other Florida utilities to deliver additional energy generated at the Osprey Energy Center to the major growth areas in Central Florida.

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Duke Energy Florida, LLC has 1.9 million customers in 35 counties – including approximately 113,000 customers in Polk County. This includes ratepayers in unincorporated Polk and several municipalities from Bartow to Winter Haven.

According to Duke Energy, unincorporated Polk County has the most ratepayers currently with 81,200. In urban areas, Haines City has the largest number of ratepayers with 12,700. Davenport is the third largest with 3,900.

The transmission system in Florida is the backbone of the grid, Gibbs said. And, it is interconnected and used by all utilities in the state and their customers.

Customers are not charged for projects until they are completed and operational. The cost is shared among all of Duke Energy’s customers statewide, she said. Building transmission power lines provides benefits beyond the immediate area for neighboring utilities and by adding capacity.

In all, Duke Energy in Florida provides electricity to more than 4 million people and serves a total area of 13,000 square miles. The utility also has more than 5,200 miles of transmission lines and 32,000 miles of distribution lines.

For power generation, Duke Energy owns and operates nearly 11,000 megawatts of generating capacity with a mix of fuels, including gas (77%), coal (11%), purchased power (10%) and solar (2%).

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According to the U.S. Energy Information Agency’s last survey in 2009, Florida households get 90% of their energy from electricity, “and annual electricity expenditures are 40% more than the U.S. average. Florida is second only to Texas in total retail sales of electricity to the residential sector.”

At four times the national average, more than 27% of the energy consumed in Florida homes is for air conditioning.

Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Duke Energy is one of the largest energy holding companies in the U.S., with approximately 29,000 employees and a generating capacity of 49,500 megawatts, its website said.

The company's Electric Utilities and Infrastructure unit serves approximately 7.6 million retail electric customers in six states – North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky.

Its Gas Utilities and Infrastructure unit distributes natural gas to approximately 1.6 million customers in five states – North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio, and Kentucky.

Paul Nutcher covers business and industry for The Ledger. He can be reached at pnutcher@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Duke Energy to install transmission line from Auburndale to Kathleen