Duke Energy Florida (DEF) and Florida Department of Environmental Protection has filed a storm water and environmental resources permit to develop solar power generating systems in Osceola County. The first 3.8MW solar facility was announced as the first project of a long-range plan.

"As the cost of solar energy continues to decrease, we're increasing our investments in this resource," said Alex Glenn, Duke Energy state president – Florida. "It's part of our ongoing strategy to offer clean energy and provide customers more options to use renewable energy."

Construction of the Osceola Solar Facility will begin once permits, which have been filed to the Osceola County Planning Department, are approved. The facility is expected to be on line in early 2016. DEF plans to install 35MW of solar by 2018 and up to 500MW of solar power in the state by 2024, ensuring residents have increasingly clean and reliable energy.

The 3.8MW Osceola facility will be built on 17 acres of a larger 25-acre parcel owned by DEF on Canoe Creek Road in Kenansville. The larger parcel includes the Canoe Creek transmission substation, owned and operated by DEF. The existing 230-kV substation will allow the new solar facility to be connected to the grid without additional easements or extensive line construction.

The company's new solar facilities will complement a new combined-cycle natural gas plant to be built in Citrus County, an upgrade of a combined-cycle energy complex in Polk County and the purchase of the Osprey Energy Center, also in Polk County.

Over the past eight years, Duke Energy has invested more than $4 billion in wind and solar facilities in 12 states. This includes the company's Stanton Solar Farm located in Orange County, which began operation in 2011. The company plans to invest about $3 billion in renewable energy over the next five years.