City of Wauchula and 11 Other Local Utilities Break Ground on One of the Largest Municipal Solar Projects in the Nation

Photo of people holding shovels for a ground breaking ceremony
Groundbreaking Photo

City of Wauchula on November 18th participated in a groundbreaking event for the Florida Municipal Solar Project, a large-scale solar energy project that will enable the City of Wauchula to provide renewable energy to its customers in the most cost-effective way.

One of the largest municipal-backed solar projects in the United States, the Florida Municipal Solar Project is a joint effort between Wauchula, 11 other Florida municipal electric utilities, Florida Municipal Power Agency (FMPA) and Florida Renewable Partners, LLC.

FMPA is serving as the project coordinator. The builder, owner and operator of the solar farms is Florida Renewable Partners. Wauchula and the other participating municipal electric utilities will purchase power from the project. There are no up-front costs for the participating municipal electric utilities, and Wauchula will only pay for the power it purchases.

“Through this partnership, we are able to build a large-scale solar project that lowers the cost of solar power and enables us to offer our customers affordable, emissions-free electricity,” said Terry Atchley, City Manager. “We look forward to the completion of the first phase of this project and adding more renewable energy to our power generation mix.”

Wauchula plans to purchase up to 5 megawatts of power from the Florida Municipal Solar Project. One megawatt serves approximately 200 typical residential electric customers in Florida.

A total of approximately 900,000 solar panels will be installed at two sites in Osceola County and at one site in Orange County. That’s enough solar panels to fill 900 football fields or stretch from Jacksonville Beach to Key West two and a half times. The total generating capability will be 223.5 megawatts of zero-emissions energy, which is enough to power 45,000 typical Florida homes.

Construction on phase one of the project will continue through mid-2020. When complete, the power output from this project will be equal to 37,250 average-size rooftop solar systems.

For more information on the Florida Municipal Solar Project, visit www.fmpa.com. For more information on City of Wauchula, visit www.cityofwauchula.com.