Florida Power & Light - History

History

FPL was founded in 1925 by merging a number of smaller companies providing power and other services to local communities in Florida, and grew with the growth in population the state has experienced.

FPL was the first company outside of Japan to win the Deming Prize in 1989. Dr. Noriaki Kano was one of the consultants that helped FPL to reach this stature.

On June 20, 2005, FPL Group completed acquisition of Gexa Energy, a retail electricity provider located in Houston and active in the deregulated Texas electricity market. At the time of acquisition, Gexa Energy had grown to over $273 million in 2004 revenues and further had been serving 100,000 total meters within the state of Texas. FPL Group acquired Gexa Energy for approximately US$81 million.

On December 19, 2005, FPL Group, Inc. announced that it was purchasing Constellation Energy in a merger transaction valued at more than US$11 billion and that it would adopt "Constellation Energy" as its name for the post-merger entity. The merger was cancelled on 25 October 2006.

On June 6, 2007, the state of Florida rejected FPL's proposal to build a coal-burning power plant on 5,000 acres (20 km2) in Moore Haven, Florida, near the western edge of Lake Okeechobee, citing concerns that it would emit toxic mercury in the lake and also harm the Everglades. FPL stated that the decision could result in higher electricity rates for customers.

On August 13, 2007, FPL workers at the company's St. Lucie Nuclear plant in Florida discovered a leak in one of the facility's condensation pumps. The plant was ordered to reduce its power output until repairs were made.

In 2008 activists complained about the 3,800 megawatt gas/diesel West County Energy Center, then under construction. They argued that the location of the power plant, less than 1,000 feet (300 m) from the northern point of the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, would endanger the entire Everglades ecosystem including the approximately thirty threatened or endangered species that live in the refuge. They argued that millions of gallons of waste water will be deep-well injected below the Floridan aquifer daily, putting a strain on water supplies in South Florida if the power plant is completed.

On February 26, 2008, a large power outage occurred after eight power plants went off-line in the region which affected approximately 600,000 to 800,000 Florida residents.

Beginning on January 5, 2009, 30 environmental activists staged a five-day vigil along the Barley Barber Swamp, a 440-acre (1.8 km2) old growth cypress forest owned by Florida Power & Light, to draw attention to what they claimed were damages being wrought by the power company's 3,705 megawatt Martin County plant. The activists claim that the Martin County power plant is drawing water from the aquifer below the swamp causing the soil to subside below the root systems of the trees. They also claim that the swamp exhibits several trees aged over 1,000 years, making them the oldest in Florida. On January 10 seventeen of the activists were arrested for trespassing. Florida Power & Light has since stated that the company will reopen the Barley Barber Swamp by 2010.

On January 7, 2009, FPL Energy announced it was changing its name to NextEra Energy Resources to highlight its commitment to renewable energy.

In 2011, construction was started on a $1.1 billion gas-fired plant replacement of its "Cape Canaveral" facility in Sharpes.