FL — Power Infrastructure Updated 2026-07-17

Florida

SERC Solar Storage Transmission Constraints

1. Grid operator and market structure

  • Market structure: Florida remains a vertically integrated, regulated retail electricity market rather than a retail-choice market; EIA’s Florida profile shows electricity sales by full-service providers rather than energy-only providers. EIA Florida profile, accessed 2026-06-10
  • Regional reliability / balancing: Florida is largely outside an RTO/ISO, so data-center load issues surface primarily through vertically integrated utility planning, PSC tariffs, and utility-specific transmission/resource plans rather than a centralized ISO queue. Florida PSC Ten-Year Site Plans page, accessed 2026-06-10

2. Interconnection queue

  • No centralized Florida load queue: Florida does not publish a single statewide queue for prospective data center or large-load interconnections. The 2026 policy response channels large-load risk into PSC-approved public-utility tariffs rather than a statewide public load queue. Chapter 2026-65, Laws of Florida, 2026-05-07
  • National generator interconnection reforms still matter: FERC Order No. 2023 and Order No. 2023-A require cluster studies, stricter readiness requirements, and standardized reforms for transmission-provider generator interconnection processes, including non-ISO transmission providers, but those orders do not create a Florida-specific retail data center load queue. FERC, 2023-07-27; FERC, 2024-03-21
  • FERC large-load inquiry is mostly an RTO benchmark for Florida: On June 18, FERC ordered six RTOs/ISOs to explain or revise their rules for connecting large loads, including co-located loads. Because Florida is largely outside those organized markets, the orders did not create a Florida retail-load queue or supersede Florida’s utility/PSC process, but they provide a national benchmark for future Florida interconnection policy. FERC, 2026-06-18
  • National queue context: LBNL’s 2025 Queued Up work remains useful context for long interconnection timelines nationally, but it is not a Florida data-center siting list. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2025-04-17

3. Ratepayer protection (PUC/PSC actions)

  • Statewide tariff mandate enacted: Chapter 2026-65 requires each Florida public utility to file a large-load tariff for PSC approval by Oct. 1, 2026. The tariff must reasonably ensure each large-load customer pays its full cost of service, including connection, incremental transmission, incremental generation, infrastructure, operations and maintenance, and other costs needed to serve the customer, and it must prevent those risks from being borne by the general body of ratepayers. Chapter 2026-65, Laws of Florida, 2026-05-07
  • Required tariff tools: The statute authorizes tools such as contributions in aid of construction, demand or minimum demand charges, incremental generation charges, financial guarantees, minimum load factors, take-or-pay provisions, minimum service periods, and early termination fees. Chapter 2026-65, Laws of Florida, 2026-05-07
  • Duke Energy Florida (DEF): The February 2026 file incorrectly treated Order No. PSC-2025-0376-PCO-EI as final approval of DEF’s large-load tariff; that order was procedural. DEF subsequently filed a new petition on April 22, 2026 in Docket No. 20260064-EI seeking approval of its Large Load Customer Policy, Large Load Customer Agreement, and related CIAC changes in light of SB 484. Florida PSC Docket 20260064-EI filing 02327-2026, 2026-04-22
  • Duke tariff suspended pending hearing: The PSC suspended Duke’s proposed tariffs on June 19 rather than allowing them to take effect, keeping the docket open for further review. The proposal defines covered large loads at 50 MW or more and includes minimum-billing, security, termination, system-impact-fee, and advance construction-cost provisions. Florida PSC Order PSC-2026-0218-PCO-EI, 2026-06-19; Florida PSC Docket 20260064-EI filing 02327-2026, 2026-04-22
  • Duke challenges and schedule: On July 7, the PSC denied motions by the Office of Public Counsel and Florida Rising to dismiss Duke’s petition, finding that disputed material facts required an evidentiary record. A July 17 procedural order kept Florida Rising in the case and confirmed an Aug. 25-26 evidentiary hearing; no final cost-allocation ruling had issued by the cutoff. Florida PSC vote sheet, 2026-07-07; Florida PSC Order PSC-2026-0253-PCO-EI, 2026-07-17
  • Florida Power & Light (FPL): The February 2026 file described FPL’s Large Load Contract Service (LLCS) as pending in the base-rate case. The PSC issued Final Order PSC-2026-0022-S-EI on Jan. 22, 2026 approving the FPL stipulation and settlement; subsequent PSC materials describe commissioners’ discussion of the large-load tariff as proactive and embedded with customer protections. Florida PSC Order PSC-2026-0022-S-EI, 2026-01-22; Florida PSC filing 00986-2026, 2026-02-06
  • FPL public framing: FPL’s Jan. 8, 2026 public Q&A said its approach to expected data center growth was designed to protect regular Floridians and keep existing customers from paying for data center-driven infrastructure. FPL Newsroom, 2026-01-08

4. Generation adequacy (projects under construction / planned)

  • FPL 2026 TYSP large-load forecast: FPL’s 2026-2035 Ten-Year Site Plan states that its current load projections assume demand from large-load customers materializes starting in 2028 and reaches 3 GW by 2035, and that the associated demand and energy are factored into resource needs. FPL Ten-Year Site Plan, 2026-04-01
  • FPL 2026 TYSP resource plan: FPL’s 2026 plan projects approximately 12,293 MW of additional solar generation during 2026-2035, reaching approximately 20,225 MW of total utility solar by the end of 2035, and about 7,454 MW of additional nameplate battery storage, reaching about 8,445 MW by the end of 2035. FPL Ten-Year Site Plan, 2026-04-01
  • FPL gas additions: FPL’s 2026 plan projects 3,276 MW of new combustion-turbine capacity coming online from 2032 through 2035 as part of resource adequacy planning. FPL Ten-Year Site Plan, 2026-04-01
  • DEF 2026 TYSP large-load treatment: DEF’s April 2026 Ten-Year Site Plan says electric utilities are being affected nationally by large-load customers associated with data centers and AI infrastructure, but DEF’s resource plan does not currently include any new large-load customers; DEF says it will inform the Commission and update plans if a firm large-load customer locates in its territory. Duke Energy Florida Ten-Year Site Plan, 2026-04

5. Utility load forecasts and IRP/TYSP signals

6. Behind-the-meter / co-location / direct procurement

  • State tariff focus rather than PPA carve-outs: The 2026 state law focuses on retail tariff and service requirements, including take-or-pay, demand charges, CIAC, financial guarantees, and curtailment/interruption rights. It does not create a separate statewide direct-PPA or behind-the-meter procurement right for data centers. Chapter 2026-65, Laws of Florida, 2026-05-07
  • Atlas Compute project-specific energy design: Atlas Compute announced a Central Florida AI campus with confirmed gas supply, water-free closed-loop cooling, and planned 240 MW initial scale with 1 GW expansion capacity, but this is a project announcement rather than a PSC-approved direct-procurement framework. Atlas Compute/GlobeNewswire via Florida Tribune, 2025-11-06
  • NextNRG / Nassau microgrid concept: NextNRG’s Nassau County lease-option concept included a proposed 200 MW smart microgrid and land described as suitable for hyperscale data center development, but Nassau County said no active or pending data center applications existed in unincorporated Nassau County. Jax Daily Record, 2026-04-28
  • Fort Meade energy and water assumptions disputed: Although Fort Meade approved a development agreement for Project Cumulus on April 15, FloridaCommerce warned that the agreement did not adequately establish the project’s energy source or grid effects and characterized its water estimate as substantially understated; the project still needs additional permits. FloridaCommerce letter, 2026-04-15; WUSF, 2026-04-20
  • Haines City water availability is a binding project constraint: Cielo’s planned 300 MW Haines City campus was delayed because the city said it lacked water and consumptive-use permit capacity for the project’s estimated demand of up to 150,000 gallons per day. No formal development application had been filed by July 17 while the city sought a permit increase. Data Center Dynamics, 2026-07-17

7. Transmission constraints and upgrades

  • FPL transmission planning: FPL’s 2026 TYSP includes numerous proposed 100 kV-and-above transmission projects to interconnect planned solar and battery additions, and its large-load forecast is embedded in the demand forecast used for resource planning. FPL Ten-Year Site Plan, 2026-04-01
  • Andytown-Oasis transmission need approved: The PSC approved FPL’s need determination for four South Florida lines—the 500 kV Andytown-Oasis and Quarry-Oasis lines and the 230 kV Oasis-Quarry and Oasis-Levee lines—with a planned December 2033 in-service date. FPL based the filing on broader Miami-Dade growth, including about 220,000 new customers and 11% load growth from 2026 through 2033, rather than identifying the project as data-center-specific. Florida PSC, 2026-05-11; Florida PSC staff recommendation, 2026-05-05
  • Cost allocation now centered on large-load tariffs: Because Chapter 2026-65 requires tariffs to recover connection, incremental transmission, incremental generation, and other infrastructure costs from large-load customers, transmission-cost allocation for future data centers will depend heavily on PSC tariff implementation in late 2026. Chapter 2026-65, Laws of Florida, 2026-05-07
  • Project-specific grid timing risk: Project announcements such as Atlas Compute and NextNRG point to developer interest in high-capacity, energy-adjacent sites, but the publicly verified regulatory record through July 17, 2026 is dominated by utility tariff proceedings and TYSP forecasts rather than publicly disclosed interconnection agreements for individual Florida data centers. Fort Meade’s state-level review illustrates that local land-use approval does not resolve power-source, transmission, or water-permit questions. Atlas Compute/GlobeNewswire via Florida Tribune, 2025-11-06; Florida PSC Docket 20260064-EI filing 02327-2026, 2026-04-22; FloridaCommerce letter, 2026-04-15