National Solar Power Continues to Grow its Pipeline in Florida

National Solar Power (NSP) has entered into a solar farm development agreement with Liberty County in Florida.

Under the terms of the agreement, National Solar Power will build up to a 100 MW solar facility on land in Liberty County.

This marks the third such agreement the company has signed with Florida counties in the last four months. In June 2011, National Solar Power announced it had selected three possible locations for its first solar power installation -- a 400 MW solar farm to span at least 4,000 acres. At the time counties in North Carolina, Georgia and Florida were the finalists.

Three months later NSP made its selection choosing Gadsden County, Florida to be home to the largest solar farm in the Southeast. The Gadsden project will be built in 20 MW, 200 acre segments at a cost of $70 million each. Hensel Phelps Construction Co. will design, build and operate a minimum of 20 of these farms. In all, the Gadsden project is estimated to cost $1.5 billion.

The Gadsden project was just the start for NSP. Two months later, in November 2011, the company said that it had entered into a similar agreement with Hardee County, Florida.  The Hardee project, however, will be smaller.  The project's total capacity will be 200 MW, which means ten 20 MW farms will be built at a total cost of $700 million.

Now, NSP's plans for Liberty County's solar installation will follow the same formula:  five 20 MW solar farms will be built for a total cost of $350 million.

For all three projects, NSP says it has agreements with Progress Energy Florida for the purchase of electricity produced at the new solar facilities, though it is unclear how much of the energy will be sold to Progress. The company says that it is pursuing additional parties interested in purchasing power generated by its solar farm projects.

For a company that launched in 2010, National Solar Power seems to be moving at the speed of light. From September 2011 until now, the company has established a 700 MW solar pipeline including what is projected to be the largest solar installation in the Southeast and the company shows little signs of slowing down.

Commenting on the landmark announcement in September, NSP CEO James Scrivener said, "the other geographic areas the company considered in Georgia and North Carolina have excellent sites and will be considered for future expansion of solar farms."

Image Credit:  /\ \/\/ /\ via Flickr