City of Kissimmee now 100 percent powered by solar through Kissimmee Utility Authority’s Community Solar plan

The solar power is now flowing though Kissimmee Utility Authority.

As of Tuesday, customers of KUA along with five other Florida public power utilities are now receiving energy from solar farms that are part of the Florida Municipal Solar Project. One of those farms is located south and east of Harmony and St. Cloud.

And one of those customers is the city of Kissimmee. It signed on to the project back in 2019 as its first subscriber, and this week solar energy is powering 100 percent of its facilities — without needing any special equipment. The city will consume about 10 percent of KUA’s total output from the solar farm to power all of its city-owned facilities.

“This is a positive step toward the future as we decide to use clean energy, and is a decision that will benefit the City and its residents for many years to come,” said Mayor Jose Alvarez.

Many households and businesses in Kissimmee do not have access to solar because they rent, live in multi-tenant buildings, have roofs that are unable to host a solar system or experience some other mitigating factor. KUA’s Community Solar option provides homeowners, renters and businesses equal access to the economic and environmental benefits of solar energy generation.

KUA subscribers who want to enroll in the Community Solar Program can get information and enroll here.

The Florida Municipal Solar Project is a partnership between the Florida Municipal Power Agency (FMPA) and 16 Florida public power utilities. It’s a large-scale renewable energy project that will enable KUA to provide solar power in the most cost-effective way and lock in a price for power for the next 20 years.

The solar sites generate a total of 149 megawatts of emissions-free energy – enough to power 30,000 homes. KUA is among the first six Florida cities to receive power from the project. One megawatt serves approximately 200 typical residential electric customers in Florida. There were no up-front costs for the participating municipal electric utilities, and KUA will only pay for the power it purchases.