NextEra Energy will build a green hydrogen plant in Florida-IESA

NextEra Energy Inc recently announced its plan to invest $65 million in its first green hydrogen power facility.

The facility will come in Florida, United States, and is expected to be online by 2023 on receiving approval from state regulators.

Through its Florida Power & Light utility, NextEra will propose a $65 million pilot in the Sunshine State (Florida) that will use a 20-MW electrolyzer to produce 100 percent green hydrogen from solar power, the company stated.

We’re really excited about hydrogen, in particular when we think about getting not to a net-zero emissions profile but actually to a zero-emissions carbon profile,” said Rebecca Kujawa, CFO, NextEra Energy.

“When we looked at this five or 10 years ago and thought about what it would take to get to true zero emissions, we were worried it was extraordinarily expensive for customers.”

The company further added that it will continue investing in renewable energy and battery storage.

Kujawa added that the green hydrogen produced by Florida Power & Light’s electrolyzers would be used to replace a portion of the natural gas that’s consumed by the turbines at FPL’s existing 1.75-gigawatt Okeechobee gas-fired plant.

NextEra Energy is a leading developer and operator of wind, solar and battery plants in North America and among the rising number of renewable energy companies that want to capitalize on the huge potential for hydrogen.

Kujawa noted that if the hydrogen economy scales up and green hydrogen becomes economic, Florida Power & Light would likely retrofit some of its gas facilities to run wholly or partially on hydrogen.