FPL To Tear Down Iconic Stacks At Port Everglades

FT. LAUDERDALE (CBS4) – Plans are underway to tear down Florida Power and Light's iconic red and white smoke stacks at Port Everglades to make way for a new power plant.

According to FPL, to meet the anticipated for electricity in 2016, they are going to invest approximately $1 billion to modernize their Port Everglades facility into a high-efficiency combined-cycle natural gas energy center. The new power plant will generate cleaner power and produce more than $400 million in net savings for customers over 30 years, according to company spokesman Neil Nissan.

The new plant will also cut CO₂ emissions in half and slash its air emissions rate by more than 90 percent.

FPL said when up and running in 2016 the new energy center will generate up to 1,280 megawatts of power, or enough electricity for about 260,000 FPL customers. While the project calls for tearing down the stacks in 2013, it will use the same land footprint and existing infrastructure, including electric transmission facilities and cooling water system which will save on costs.

The company estimates that construction of the new plant will create 650 direct jobs at its peak and more than a thousand indirect jobs.