Florida Power & Light

Florida Power & Light (FPL) is the main subsidiary of FPL Group, which also owns FPL Energy (now NextEra Energy Resources), an operator of wind, solar, nuclear, and some coal facilities. Florida Power & Light has power stations at fourteen different locations, the bulk gas-fired stations. It also operates two nuclear power stations (Turkey Point and St. Lucie in Florida) and two coal-fired power stations, the St. Johns River Power Park in Florida and the Scherer Steam Generating Station in Georgia.

Existing Coal Plants
Florida Power & Light has partial ownership of the following plants:

Florida Power & Light owns 75% of Unit 4 of the Scherer Station, and 20% of two units of St. Johns.

CEO compensation
In May 2007, Forbes listed FPL Group CEO Lewis Hay III as receiving $11.82 million in total compensation for the latest fiscal year, with a five-year total compensation of $38.13 million. He ranked 8th on the list of CEOs in the Utilities industry, and 159th out of all CEOs in the United States.

Turkey Point safety issues
In March 2009, as FPL worked on plans to build two new nuclear reactors at its Turkey Point plant in South Miami-Dade County, evidence surfaced about a 2008 incident where the plant's top nuclear operator, David Hoffman resigned because he felt the company pressured plant employees to not follow safety procedures in order to save money. Hoffman blasted FPL for "constantly putting cost savings ahead of safety and creating a horrible morale problem." His resignation letter alleged, "People are not valued and are treated like equipment and numbers." Hoffman had "complained to the utility several times about issues in which he thought executives let cost-cutting 'interfere with the proper maintenance' of the Turkey Point reactors. ... The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has found 25 or more violations of reliability standards because of the incident, and FPL is now facing millions of dollars in fines."

A 2008 survey of Turkey Point workers about the plant's system for reporting safety issues, the Employee Concerns Program (ECP) "found that more than one in four -- 29.2 percent -- disagreed with the following statement: 'I am confident that nuclear safety and quality issues reported through the ECP are thoroughly investigated and appropriately resolved.' More than one in three disagreed with this following statement: 'I can use the ECP without fear of retaliation.'"

Report: FP&L's nuclear plants not replacing coal
A 2011 report by NC Warn, "New Nuclear Power is Ruining Climate Protection Efforts and Harming Customers", argues that companies like Florida Power & Light have said they want to lead the way to a “low carbon” future by building more nuclear power plants, but instead of replacing their coal-burning plants with nuclear power, the companies "plan to keep operating most or all of their coal plants indefinitely, while adding more nuclear (and fossil fuel) plants so they can expand electricity sales both within and outside the region."

The report states that "Florida Power & Light plans to increase generating capacity by an ambitious 9,510 MW, including over 5,000 MW of natural gas units. If completed, two new AP1000s at Turkey Point would contribute more than 2,200 MW of new capacity (the opening date is now projected to be after the 2020 planning horizon). FP&L does not project any coal closures at this time."

Contact details
Website: http://www.fpl.com/

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External articles

 * Julie Patel, "FPL wants to boost electric rates by at least $1 billion a year: The company submitted a proposal Wednesday to the Florida Public Service Commission to increase base power rates by $1 billion in 2010 and $1.25 billion in 2011," South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida), March 19, 2009.