NextEra firm in business with JEA? FPL parent to build 4 new solar farms in Jacksonville
JEA will partner with Florida Power & Light's sister company Florida Renewable Partners on building four new solar farms in Jacksonville that will generate about 5% of JEA's electricity by 2027 for thousands of homes and businesses.
The JEA board approved entering into the agreement with Florida Renewable Partners, whose parent company is NextEra Energy, the Juno Beach-based company that also owns FPL and is among the nation's biggest players in the field of renewable energy from wind and the sun.
Florida Renewable Partners will build solar farms on big tracts owned by JEA on the Westside. Florida Renewable Partners then will sell the solar-produced electricity to JEA.
More: JEA stakes out clean energy plan in a water-borne region at risk from global warming
More: JEA eyes solar farms and new natural gas plant in coming years
An agreement by JEA with a different firm, EDF Renewables, fizzled out in 2022 without any construction of solar farms, prompting JEA to seek a fresh round of proposals.
JEA CEO Jay Stowe said JEA learned from the cancelled agreement with EDF Renewables and will have a "little bit more flexibility" in working with Florida Renewable Partners to get the solar farms up and running.
"We think this one will continue to proceed and we'll be able to get energy from it in a few years," he said.
JEA has set a goal of having 35% of its electricity come from "clean energy" that doesn't burn fossil fuels like natural gas and coal that contribute to climate change.
JEA will get 11% of its electric needs by purchasing power from the Plant Vogtle nuclear reactors in Georgia.
Solar energy will provide another 12% of the utility's electricity with 5% coming from the Florida Renewable Energy partnership, 3% from FPL, 3% from the Florida Municipal Power Agency, and 1% from existing small-scale solar farms in Jacksonville.
That still will leave JEA needing to find clean energy sources for another 12% of its electric portfolio to achieve the goal by 2030.
The agreement with Florida Renewable Energy will build solar farms on the 600-acre Forest Trail site and the 2,183 acres Miller site by the end of September 2026. Another site called the Peterson tract will be divided into two solar farms with one slated to provide electricity by September 2026 and the other by September 2027.
JEA's total cost for the solar farms will be about $1.5 billion over 35 years, according to a presentation to the JEA board. That expense includes up to $645 million for the installation of battery systems that will capture excess electricity produced by the solar farms when the sun is shining and then supply the electricity when needed to JEA customers at night and on cloudy days.
JEA considered whether it should own the solar farms but determined that federal tax credits for solar energy are more advantageous for-profit companies in bringing down the cost of solar power. The contract has options for JEA to buy the facilities at future dates.
JEA and and FPL teamed up in past on coal-fired plants such as the St. Johns River Power Park in Jacksonville and Plant Scherer's Unit 4 in Georgia. They decided to close St. Johns River Power Park and began demolishing it in 2018. They decommissioned the Plant Scherer unit in 2022 as the utility industry kept moving away from coal as a fuel.
JEA's partnership with Florida Renewable Partners continues that relationship through NextEra Energy but now it's shifted to renewable energy rather than fossil fuels. JEA selected it over 14 other proposals.
"We did an open, transparent kind of process to go through and select the most responsive bidder," Stowe said. "They are a good company that supports the system, and we work with them and others in Florida."
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: JEA choose NextEra company for solar farm buildout
