Florida Power & Light Company has unveiled the world’s first hybrid solar energy centre, which combines a solar farm with a natural gas power plant.
The centre, situated in western Martin County in Florida, US, and spread across 500 acres, connects a field of over 190,000 solar thermal mirrors with an existing combined-cycle natural gas power plant.
The 75MW Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center, which took two years to be built, will provide energy for about 11,000 homes.
The technology is expected to reduce fossil fuel consumption by 41 billion square feet of natural gas and over 600,000 barrels of oil, which will prevent the release of more than 2.75 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions.
The facility will save its customers about $178m in fuel costs over its estimated 30-year lifetime.
The hybrid energy centre entered into service in November 2010.
