© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The company logo and ticker for Duke Energy Corp. is displayed on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., March 4, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
(Reuters) – Duke Energy Corp (NYSE:) said on Thursday that its Florida unit would start construction of about 1 megawatt floating solar array pilot later this month in Polk County.
The pilot will feature more than 1,800 floating solar modules and occupy about 2 acres of water surface at the company’s Hines Energy Complex in Bartow, it said.
According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, 1 MW solar powers about 173 homes.
Last month, Duke boosted its five-year capital plan to $65 billion, with about 80% aimed at low-carbon energy.
The energy company’s power and gas utilities serve more than 8 million businesses and homes in the Carolinas, parts of Florida and the Midwest, and it owns about 50,000 MW of energy capacity.
