JUNO BEACH, Fla., Feb. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Florida
Southeast Connection, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of NextEra
Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE), today announced that it has received a
Certificate of Public Need and Necessity from the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (FERC) to construct and operate a proposed
underground pipeline to transport natural gas to southern
Florida.
The pipeline facilities will help ensure Florida maintains
access to clean, affordable U.S.-produced natural gas needed to
meet the state's growing electricity needs. The approval provides
the company with authorization, subject to certain conditions, to
prepare for construction, which is expected to begin this
spring.
"This is a major milestone for an important infrastructure
project that will help meet the growing energy needs of South
Floridians for generations to come," said Michael DeBock, executive director of gas
infrastructure for NextEra Energy.
The estimated $550 million Florida
Southeast Connection pipeline would interconnect with the two
existing systems in Central
Florida and a new interstate pipeline expected to be built
and operated by Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC. The Sabal Trail
pipeline would originate in Alabama to access the abundant natural gas
reserves in various regions of the U.S. It would terminate at a new
Central Florida Hub south of Orlando,
Fla. Sabal Trail is a joint venture of Spectra Energy
Partners, LP, NextEra Energy and Duke Energy.
The Florida Southeast Connection pipeline route originates in
Osceola County and runs 126 miles
south and east, terminating at the FPL Martin Clean Energy Center
in Indiantown, Fla. The company
expects FERC to issue a Notice to Proceed with Construction this
spring. Construction of the underground pipeline and associated
facilities is expected to take approximately one year. It is
scheduled to enter service in 2017.
More than 60 percent of the electricity used by Floridians is
generated by natural gas, making it the leading fuel for energy
generation in the state. Florida is currently served by only two
major pipeline systems, and both are nearing full capacity.
The new pipeline would help enable power generators such as
Florida Power & Light Company to
continue to access America's abundant supply of clean natural gas
to power Florida homes and businesses. In addition, natural gas is
also vital for local gas distribution companies that serve
industrial, commercial and residential customers throughout the
Sunshine State. For more information, go to
www.FloridaSoutheastConnection.com.
NextEra Energy, Inc.
NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)
is a leading clean energy company with consolidated revenues of
approximately $17.5 billion,
approximately 46,300 megawatts of generating capacity, which
includes megawatts associated with noncontrolling interests related
to NextEra Energy Partners, LP (NYSE:NEP), and approximately 14,300
employees in 27 states and Canada
as of year-end 2015. Headquartered in Juno Beach, Fla., NextEra Energy's principal
subsidiaries are Florida Power &
Light Company, which serves more than 4.8 million customer accounts
in Florida and is one of the
largest rate-regulated electric utilities in the United States, and NextEra Energy
Resources, LLC, which, together with its affiliated entities, is
the world's largest generator of renewable energy from the wind and
sun. Through its subsidiaries, NextEra Energy generates clean,
emissions-free electricity from eight commercial nuclear power
units in Florida, New Hampshire, Iowa and Wisconsin. NextEra Energy has been recognized
often by third parties for its efforts in sustainability, corporate
responsibility, ethics and compliance, and diversity, and has been
ranked in the top 10 worldwide for innovativeness and community
responsibility as part of Fortune's 2015 list of "World's Most
Admired Companies." For more information about NextEra Energy
companies, visit these websites: www.NextEraEnergy.com,
www.FPL.com, www.NextEraEnergyResources.com.
Cautionary Statements and Risk Factors That
May Affect Future Results
This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within
the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are not
statements of historical facts, but instead represent the current
expectations of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NextEra Energy) and
Florida Power & Light Company
(FPL) regarding future operating results and other future events,
many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and
outside of NextEra Energy's and FPL's control. Forward looking
statements in this new release include, among others, statements
concerning FPL's plans for requesting new base rates. In some
cases, you can identify the forward-looking statements by words or
phrases such as "will," "may result," "expect," "anticipate,"
"believe," "intend," "plan," "seek," "aim," "potential,"
"projection," "forecast," "predict," "goals," "target," "outlook,"
"should," "would" or similar words or expressions. You should not
place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are
not a guarantee of future performance. The future results of
NextEra Energy and FPL and their business and financial condition
are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause their
actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied
in the forward-looking statements, or may require them to limit or
eliminate certain operations. These risks and uncertainties
include, but are not limited to, the following: effects of
extensive regulation of NextEra Energy's and FPL's business
operations; inability of NextEra Energy and FPL to recover in a
timely manner any significant amount of costs, a return on certain
assets or a reasonable return on invested capital through base
rates, cost recovery clauses, other regulatory mechanisms or
otherwise; impact of political, regulatory and economic factors on
regulatory decisions important to NextEra Energy and FPL;
disallowance of cost recovery by FPL based on a finding of
imprudent use of derivative instruments; effect of any reductions
to or elimination of governmental incentives that support utility
scale renewable energy projects of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC
and its affiliated entities (NextEra Energy Resources) or the
imposition of additional taxes or assessments on renewable energy;
impact of new or revised laws, regulations or interpretations or
other regulatory initiatives on NextEra Energy and FPL; effect on
NextEra Energy and FPL of potential regulatory action to broaden
the scope of regulation of over-the-counter (OTC) financial
derivatives and to apply such regulation to NextEra Energy and FPL;
capital expenditures, increased operating costs and various
liabilities attributable to environmental laws, regulations and
other standards applicable to NextEra Energy and FPL; effects on
NextEra Energy and FPL of federal or state laws or regulations
mandating new or additional limits on the production of greenhouse
gas emissions; exposure of NextEra Energy and FPL to significant
and increasing compliance costs and substantial monetary penalties
and other sanctions as a result of extensive federal regulation of
their operations; effect on NextEra Energy and FPL of changes in
tax laws and in judgments and estimates used to determine
tax-related asset and liability amounts; impact on NextEra Energy
and FPL of adverse results of litigation; effect on NextEra Energy
and FPL of failure to proceed with projects under development or
inability to complete the construction of (or capital improvements
to) electric generation, transmission and distribution facilities,
gas infrastructure facilities or other facilities on schedule or
within budget; impact on development and operating activities of
NextEra Energy and FPL resulting from risks related to project
siting, financing, construction, permitting, governmental approvals
and the negotiation of project development agreements; risks
involved in the operation and maintenance of electric generation,
transmission and distribution facilities, gas infrastructure
facilities and other facilities; effect on NextEra Energy and FPL
of a lack of growth or slower growth in the number of customers or
in customer usage; impact on NextEra Energy and FPL of severe
weather and other weather conditions; threats of terrorism and
catastrophic events that could result from terrorism, cyber attacks
or other attempts to disrupt NextEra Energy's and FPL's business or
the businesses of third parties; inability to obtain adequate
insurance coverage for protection of NextEra Energy and FPL against
significant losses and risk that insurance coverage does not
provide protection against all significant losses; a prolonged
period of low gas and oil prices could impact NextEra Energy
Resources' gas infrastructure business and cause NextEra Energy
Resources to delay or cancel certain gas infrastructure projects
and for certain existing projects to be impaired; risk to NextEra
Energy Resources of increased operating costs resulting from
unfavorable supply costs necessary to provide NextEra Energy
Resources' full energy and capacity requirement services; inability
or failure by NextEra Energy Resources to manage properly or hedge
effectively the commodity risk within its portfolio; potential
volatility of NextEra Energy's results of operations caused by
sales of power on the spot market or on a short-term contractual
basis; effect of reductions in the liquidity of energy markets on
NextEra Energy's ability to manage operational risks; effectiveness
of NextEra Energy's and FPL's risk management tools associated with
their hedging and trading procedures to protect against significant
losses, including the effect of unforeseen price variances from
historical behavior; impact of unavailability or disruption of
power transmission or commodity transportation facilities on sale
and delivery of power or natural gas by FPL and NextEra Energy
Resources; exposure of NextEra Energy and FPL to credit and
performance risk from customers, hedging counterparties and
vendors; failure of NextEra Energy or FPL counterparties to perform
under derivative contracts or of requirement for NextEra Energy or
FPL to post margin cash collateral under derivative contracts;
failure or breach of NextEra Energy's or FPL's information
technology systems; risks to NextEra Energy and FPL's retail
businesses from compromise of sensitive customer data; losses from
volatility in the market values of derivative instruments and
limited liquidity in OTC markets; impact of negative publicity;
inability of NextEra Energy and FPL to maintain, negotiate or
renegotiate acceptable franchise agreements with municipalities and
counties in Florida; increasing
costs of health care plans; lack of a qualified workforce or the
loss or retirement of key employees; occurrence of work strikes or
stoppages and increasing personnel costs; NextEra Energy's ability
to successfully identify, complete and integrate acquisitions,
including the effect of increased competition for acquisitions;
NextEra Energy Partners, LP's (NEP's) acquisitions may not be
completed and, even if completed, NextEra Energy may not realize
the anticipated benefits of any acquisitions; environmental, health
and financial risks associated with NextEra Energy's and FPL's
ownership and operation of nuclear generation facilities; liability
of NextEra Energy and FPL for significant retrospective assessments
and/or retrospective insurance premiums in the event of an incident
at certain nuclear generation facilities; increased operating and
capital expenditures at nuclear generation facilities of NextEra
Energy or FPL resulting from orders or new regulations of the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission; inability to operate any of NextEra
Energy Resources' or FPL's owned nuclear generation units through
the end of their respective operating licenses; liability of
NextEra Energy and FPL for increased nuclear licensing or
compliance costs resulting from hazards, and increased public
attention to hazards, posed to their owned nuclear generation
facilities; risks associated with outages of NextEra Energy's and
FPL's owned nuclear units; effect of disruptions, uncertainty or
volatility in the credit and capital markets on NextEra Energy's
and FPL's ability to fund their liquidity and capital needs and
meet their growth objectives; inability of NextEra Energy, FPL and
NextEra Energy Capital Holdings, Inc. to maintain their current
credit ratings; impairment of NextEra Energy's and FPL's liquidity
from inability of creditors to fund their credit commitments or to
maintain their current credit ratings; poor market performance and
other economic factors that could affect NextEra Energy's defined
benefit pension plan's funded status; poor market performance and
other risks to the asset values of NextEra Energy's and FPL's
nuclear decommissioning funds; changes in market value and other
risks to certain of NextEra Energy's investments; effect of
inability of NextEra Energy subsidiaries to pay upstream dividends
or repay funds to NextEra Energy or of NextEra Energy's performance
under guarantees of subsidiary obligations on NextEra Energy's
ability to meet its financial obligations and to pay dividends on
its common stock; and effect of disruptions, uncertainty or
volatility in the credit and capital markets of the market price of
NextEra Energy's common stock. NextEra Energy and FPL discuss these
and other risks and uncertainties in their annual report on Form
10-K for the year ended December 31,
2014 and other SEC filings, and this news release should be
read in conjunction with such SEC filings made through the date of
this news release. The forward-looking statements made in this news
release are made only as of the date of this news release and
NextEra Energy and FPL undertake no obligation to update any
forward-looking statements.
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SOURCE NextEra Energy, Inc.