We’re proud to announce that four new solar plants began producing electricity from the sun in December. With that, a significant phase of our solar expansion is complete.
Our solar projects can now produce 1,252 megawatts of electricity – enough to power more than 200,000 homes. The new plants include one in Hillsborough County, one in Pasco County and two in Polk County.
Sunshine doesn’t stop, and we’re not either. In January we’ll kick off construction for our next phase of solar power, with more planned by the end of 2026. At that time, we’ll have more than 1,600 MW of solar – enough to serve 260,000 homes. By then, about 17 percent of our energy will be generated from the Florida sun – the highest solar percentage of any utility in the state.
Solar energy has three big perks. It helps to:
- Save fuel costs for customers and reduce the impact of volatile natural gas prices. Since 2017, solar power has saved customers about $200 million in fuel costs.
- Conserve water. By repurposing former agricultural land for solar investments, Tampa Electric has saved more than 4.3 billion gallons of water in an area of Florida with critical concerns about water use.
- Reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We’recommitted to a cleaner-energy future. When complete, our solar projects will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 2.35 million tons every year – that’s like taking about 500,000 cars off the road.
Stay tuned for more sunny updates and learn about our solar solutions!
