Florida Regulators Approve Cost Recovery for Duke’s 150 Megawatts of Solar

The Florida Public Service Commission approved cost recovery for two of Duke Energy Florida LLC’s solar projects, totaling about 150 megawatts of capacity, according to an April 2 press release.

• The two projects, located in the northern part of the state, are the 74.9-megawatt Hamilton Solar farm and the 74.9-megawatt Columbia Solar farm. Hamilton was originally developed by Tradewind Energy Inc. and completed by Duke Energy on December 22. Columbia Solar will be developed by Core Solar and is expected to be fully operational in March 2020.
• Duke Energy Florida requested approval of $29.2 million in total annual revenue requirements for the two projects through a Solar Base Rate Adjustment, which allows the regulator to add the solar projects to a utility’s rate base without a full-fledged rate case proceeding.
• The projects are part of a wider company strategic push to build or acquire 700 megawatts of solar energy in Florida through 2022.
• DEF serves 1.8 million customers in Florida and is a subsidiary of Duke Energy Corporation.