FPL Demolishes Cape Canaveral Power Plant

Florida Power & Light this weekend demolished the most visible structures at its 42-acre Cape Canaveral Power Plant. A video shows the implosion of the 45-year-old plant’s red-and-white stacks. The company said it is preparing to build the Cape Canaveral Next Generation Clean Energy Center—a natural gas plant—which will open in 2013.

FPL said its 1,250-MW Next Generation Clean Energy Center will use 33% less fuel per megawatt of power generated because it will use combined cycle natural gas technology—not a mixture of fuel oil and natural gas, as did Cape Canaveral.

“Three sleeker stacks, half as high as those taken down today, will emit 88 percent fewer air particulates and 50 percent less carbon dioxide without any additional water or land use. In addition, the site is designed to meet U.S. Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification and to feature rooftop solar panels and an electric car recharging station,” the company said in a statement on Sunday.

The company’s Riviera Beach plant is next in line to be imploded, likely next summer, FPL officials said. That 1946-built plant will be replaced with a $1 billion center powered by natural gas and will produce twice the megawatts produced by the current plant.

Sources: FPL, POWERnews