Union County approves Florida Power and Light plan to add battery storage at existing solar site
Loading...
Summary
The Union County Board of County Commissioners unanimously approved Florida Power & Light’s application (SDP 25-01) to add a 3–5 acre battery energy storage system to an existing solar site southeast of Lake Butler; FPL cited safety standards and pledged first-responder training and increased tax revenue.
The Union County Board of County Commissioners, sitting as the planning and zoning board, voted unanimously to approve application SDP 25-01 from Florida Power and Light to add a battery energy storage system at an existing 74.5-megawatt solar site southeast of Lake Butler.
Caleb Gertzen, an associate project manager with Florida Power and Light, presented the proposal and said the battery pad would be roughly 3 to 5 acres, use the existing on-site substation, and be set back 100 feet from the property line and 35 feet from wetlands. "2024 alone, we paid $287,000 to the county," Gertzen said, adding that the battery installation could potentially double the ad valorem tax revenue for the property.
Gertzen described the battery architecture (cells to modules to racks to containers), the company’s safety and testing regimen and its monitoring plans. "NFPA 55 is the golden standard for us," he said, and he cited Underwriters Laboratories testing standards the company follows. FPL said the systems include multilevel gas and smoke detection, thermal management and 24/7 remote monitoring through its renewable operations control center.
Commissioners and residents raised questions about battery lifespan, local traffic and emergency response. Gertzen said the batteries typically have about a 20-year lifespan and noted that the company had secured an environmental resource permit from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection in late November. On traffic, FPL said it would use the existing access path off State Road 100 and County Road 237 and would coordinate with the county and contractors to limit movements; the company also said it would address any construction-related damage to the county road.
On emergency response, Gertzen said FPL will coordinate "comprehensive training" with local fire and rescue personnel and that first responders’ primary role would be to maintain a perimeter in the event of an incident. He described the batteries as containerized and designed to contain failures within a unit while operators monitor systems remotely.
After the presentation and brief question-and-answer session, a commissioner moved to approve application SDP 25-01; the motion was seconded and the board voted to approve the application unanimously. The chair announced the item passed and the board recessed until 6:05 p.m.
The board’s approval allows FPL to proceed to the next permitting and construction steps outlined in the application; construction was presented as expected to begin in August 2026 with commercial operation targeted for July 2027.
