What will inspire the next generation of scientists?
Truthfully, there’s an entire universe of possibilities out there. But FPL is hoping that its solar energy footprint at Frost Science—which includes solar trees and a solar farm—could be one of the sparks that ignites a child’s passion for STEM education.
“I grew up in the Shenandoah area no more than a mile or so away from the old museum campus,” said David Hernandez, a project manager at FPL. “I spent countless summers at the museum taking courses such as ‘Rocketry,’ where we built Estes rockets and launched them or ‘Marine Biology,’ where we would go to Matheson Hammock Park to collect samples and analyze them back at the museum. The museum definitely set me on a path to becoming an engineer.”
Florida Power & Light Company is the third-largest electric utility in the United States, serving approximately 4.9 million customer accounts or an estimated 10 million people across nearly half of the state of Florida. The company received the top ranking in the southern U.S. among large electric providers, according to the J.D. Power 2016 Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study, and was recognized in 2016 as one of the most trusted U.S. electric utilities by Market Strategies International.
FPL’s solar expansion plays an important role in the company’s innovative approach of making smart investments that generate affordable, clean energy for Floridians. Today, FPL operates more than 335 megawatts of solar at eight solar plants around the state. By early 2018, 600 more megawatts of solar—enough to power 120,000 homes—will be added. They also plan on building nearly 2,100 megawatts of new universal solar (utility-scale) in Florida over the next six years. That’s nearly 9 million solar panels, which, laid end to end, would stretch from Miami to Sydney, Australia—almost half way around the world.
For more information, go to www.fpl.com.