The Florida Municipal Power Agency （FMPA） recently announced a “major expansion” to a large solar project that will involve adding sites in Levy County over the course of the next several years.
The Florida Municipal Solar Project is “one of the largest municipal-backed solar projects in the nation” and consists of two solar farms at this time, according to a news release. Those sites are Taylor Creek Solar （Orange County） and Harmony Solar （Osceola County）。
The project’s expansion will include two phases. Phase 2 consists of adding two more solar farms – Rice Creek Solar （Putnam County） and Whistling Duck Solar （Levy County）。
According to the news release, Rice Creek Solar is expected to be completed by the end of the year while Whistling Duck Solar has an estimated completion date of 2024. The two sites “will generate nearly 150 megawatts of solar energy” when activated.
Four more solar farms – situated in Columbia, Bradford and Levy counties —will be added during Phase 3 of the expansion. The addition of the four sites “will double the size of the project from four to eight sites” and “generate nearly 600 megawatts of solar power,” according to the news release. This is four times the amount being generated right now.
According to the news release, construction and operation of the added farms will be staggered throughout 2025 and 2026.
The project will include over 1.8 million solar panels installed on eight farms by the end of 2026, according to the news release. FMPA is working in collaboration with 20 municipal electric utilities in Florida and Origis Energy in the project expansion.
“By partnering with our municipal electric utilities members and Origis Energy, we are able to take advantage of a great opportunity to increase the volume of our low-cost, reliable solar generation at a time when solar costs have been escalating,” Jacob Williams, general manager and CEO of FMPA, said in the news release. “Expanding the Florida Municipal Solar Project will also enable us to serve several new communities that haven’t had access to solar before.”
