A Great Big Gigawatt (and Counting!) to Start the Year

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What’s better than watching the sun set over the water? Knowing solar panels actually on the water, like our project in Apollo Beach, can help generate clean energy for the community.

Hi Tampa Bay – could we interest you in news guaranteed to brighten your day, your year, your life and your future?

We proudly present you with Tampa Electric’s first gigawatt of solar power. Flipping the ‘on’ switch at Tampa Electric’s latest solar array in Hillsborough County Dec. 17 put us past that much electricity from the sun, generated by our growing solar fields and more, to reliably deliver to people like you.

A gigawatt (pronounced with a ‘G’ like in ‘give’) is a great amount of power. The U.S. Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy breaks it down by the numbers here. That’s enough solar to generate clean, renewable energy for over 160,000 homes! Imagine the fuel savings over the lifetime of these arrays.

A cleaner tomorrow is what our customers want and generations to come need. Tampa Electric has big plans for a net-zero carbon future by 2050, and this is a huge milestone in support of that vision. While those sprawling solar fields soak up Florida’s plentiful sun day by day, basking like the tourists we happily welcome to our state, why should they have all the fun?

  • Lock in your pass-through fuel charge (which Tampa Electric doesn’t benefit from) for the year with our Sun Select program, which lets you purchase solar power from us for a small charge added to your bill. It’s great for people who live in homes that can’t accommodate rooftop solar panels.
  • Power an event, gathering or party with solar power with Sun to Go.
  • Or Connect Your Solar with rooftop panels.

There’s a lot more incredible things happening at Tampa Electric with solar power, from our Microgrid Pilot program to exciting solar power research and environmental stewardship. We’ll have other big news along the way, as experts predict the sun will continue to deliver reliable energy for the next few billion years.

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