FPL plans to demolish its power plant at Port Everglades and replace it with a modernized one. This is a rendering of what the plant currently looks like.
It’s official. Those candy-cane-striped smokestacks at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale are history. They’ll be demolished around June next year — surely an event to watch, like the Riviera Beach power plant implosion in 2011.
Regulators on Tuesday approved Florida Power & Light Co.’s plan to replace its early 1960s oil-burning plant with one that burns mostly natural gas, which is much more efficient.
Expect to see three 150-foot-tall smokestacks compared to the four, 350-foot tall towers at the port now..
Until construction begins in early 2014, customers will get power from other FPL sources. Ratepayers won’t pick up the tab for the $1.2 billion plant until it begins operating in mid-2016, FPL says.
While it’s too early to say how much construction costs could increase residential bills, operating the new plant will save a projected $469 million over 30 years, the utility says. It also will provide cleaner energy, reducing carbon emissions by 90 percent.
The project will generate 650 construction jobs, FPL said.