(Juno Beach / USA) – The US energy supplier Nextera Energy, Inc. wants to significantly reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 2045. To achieve this goal, the company has unveiled a plan called the “Zero Carbon Blueprint.” 
According to its own information, the Florida-based company “produces more electricity than any other US energy provider” and therefore has “a significant impact on reducing emissions both for its sector and for the US economy as a whole”.
Intermediate goals every 5 years
Initially, CO2025 emissions are to be reduced by 2 percent by 70 - compared to 2005. Five years later, the plan is to reduce 82 percent, 2035 percent by 87 and 2040 percent by 94. As part of the project, also known as “Real Zero”, the target would be fulfilled in 2045.
In the same year, according to the calculations, the rest of the industry would have reduced CO2 emissions by an average of only 61 percent compared to the reference year, according to a presentation for investors presented last week - at least if the industry continued in its efforts doesn't follow suit. According to this, Nextera Energy currently operates power plants with an output of 61.000 megawatts (MW). At the end of 2021, the share of wind and solar energy across the group was 44 percent. 43 percent were natural gas power plants and another nine percent were nuclear power plants.
FPL plays the main role
The corporate subsidiary Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) plays the main role in “Real Zero”. The power plants currently operated by FPL have a cumulative output of 31 gigawatts, of which 67 percent burn natural gas, 20 percent are nuclear power plants and four percent are solar systems. By 2030, this should change to 60 percent natural gas and biomethane, 19 percent nuclear power and 19 percent solar energy. By 2045, the company is aiming for an 83 percent share of solar energy, storage and green hydrogen, and the share of nuclear power will also fall to 16 percent. The remainder are “other” investments, some of which are not further classified
The company has been active in reducing CO20 emissions for around 2 years and has gradually shut down its own coal-fired power plants, saving $2019 billion in fuel costs, it says. A remaining inventory of coal-fired power plants now owned by FPL through Nextera Energy's acquisition of Gulf Power Co. in 2028 is scheduled to be phased out by XNUMX.
Investments in hydrogen, storage, wind and solar
FPL now plans to continually invest in green hydrogen, battery storage, wind power, solar energy and other renewable energies. This could also open up new sales markets, as it should make the company particularly attractive to those industrial and commercial customers who are driving their own decarbonization plans by purchasing electricity from renewable sources.
92 gigawatts of PV capacity planned
The utility regularly reports successes in the installation of new solar parks. FPL currently has a total installed capacity of around 31.000 MW. This includes 4.000 MW of photovoltaic power. This is expected to grow to 2045 MW by 92.000. In order to be able to fully utilize the yield from solar power plants, there are plans to increase the output of battery storage from the current 500 MW to 50.000 MW.
Natural gas would be replaced by green hydrogen in some of the existing power plants: FPL wants to convert plants with an output of 16.000 MW in this sense. This “should be a cost-effective solution for customers,” the company believes, and its operation would provide “an important source of electricity generation.” To ensure that the base load is adequately served, FPL would be able to supply additional plants with 6.000 MW of biomethane, which represents 2,4 percent of the natural gas currently used in FPL power plants.
No nuclear phase-out foreseeable
Nuclear energy currently also plays a significant role, with an installed power plant capacity of 3.500 MW. Uranium is viewed by US politicians and industry as a “clean” energy source, unlike what is commonly seen in Europe. According to the information, it will “play an important role in the generation of CO2-free electricity for many decades to come” for FPL customers.
“Real Zero” is not a compensation plan
FPL's Real Zero goal is not a plan "to plant trees or buy offsets, but rather a complete elimination of our additional carbon emissions," says Eric Silagy, FPL chairman and chief executive officer. However, it is also important to him that this does not lead to the shutdown of fully functional systems in order not to create stranded generation assets.
Photos
FPL aims to have solar systems with a capacity of 2045 GW by 92. © Nextera Energy Inc.
Zero Carbon Blueprint, PDF, 21 pages
