The Alachua City Commission recently voted unanimously to participate in a Florida Municipal Power Agency (FMPA) solar power project that stands to save the City’s electric customers millions of dollars over the next 20-30 years.

By participating, Alachua joins a partnership with other cities such as Bartow, Fort Pierce, Homestead, Lake Worth, Kissimmee, Ocala, Wauchula and Winter Park, along with other municipalities such as Beaches Energy Services, Keys Energy Services and the Orlando Utilities Commission,.

“I can’t imagine a more win-win situation for our city,” Mayor Gib Coerper said. “This project not only presents our City with an incredible opportunity to become more green by investing in a clean, renewable energy that significantly reduces environmental impacts, but it also provides millions of dollars in savings to our electric customers.”

The project, slated to go online sometime in the year 2020, will be developed by NextEra Florida Renewables, and will consist of three, 74.5 megawatt (MW) utility-scale solar facilities located in Osceola and Orange counties.

Since natural gas is the primary driver of the energy market, natural gas prices will determine the amount of savings this project will ultimately provide the City’s electric customers. If natural gas prices fail to rise over the next 30 years, the savings will be approximately $2 million. However, if natural gas prices increase by 4%, the savings will be approximately $7 million.

Alachua’s participation in this project also means the City’s energy portfolio is further diversified with solar energy being added as a new component, which would provide additional protection for rate payers in the event natural gas or other traditional energy markets spike.