As of summer 2022, Tallahassee has made tremendous strides towards its clean energy goals, including:
City Operations: The City of Tallahassee is a vertically integrated electric utility with generation, transmission, and distribution operations. As the 4th largest municipal electric utility in Florida and the 22nd largest in the United States (of over 2,000), our 295 employees are dedicated to meeting your electric service needs.
The City has three fossil-fueled generating stations, which contain combined cycle (CC), combustion turbine (CT) and reciprocating internal combustion engine (RICE or IC) electric generating facilities. The Sam O. Purdom Generating Station, located in the City of St. Marks, Florida has been in operation since 1952; the Arvah B. Hopkins Generating Station,
located on Geddie Road west of the City, has been in commercial operation since 1970; and the Substation 12 Distributed Generation Facility, located on Medical Drive, has been in operation since late 2018.
The City also operates two large solar facilities located at the property of the Tallahassee International Airport (TLH). Solar Farm 1, which is 20 megawatts, sits on 120 acres and Solar Farm 2, which is twice as big at 40 megawatts, sits on 240 acres. Together, they become the largest airport-based solar farm in the nation. Since February 2020, a portion of the solar energy output from the solar farm has been allocated to cover the energy needs of all City-owned buildings, the first city in Florida to be powered by clean energy. The balance of solar energy generated has been fully-subscribed to the 1,600+ residential and commercial participants in the Tallahassee Solar program. In addition, the City maintains 20 rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) installations generating nearly 225 kW, another 14 solar thermal water heaters serving several fire stations and other City properties, and two solar pool heating systems.
City Fleet Transition: City Fleet operates 48 light duty electric vehicles (EVs), mostly Chevrolet Bolts, and 53 hybrid EVs with plans to purchase an additional five Chevy Bolts, 25 hybrid police SUVs, and five F-150 Lightnings this year. Fleet maintains a growing number of EV Level 2 charging ports around town to support City EV charging.
StarMetro Transition: StarMetro’s 19 all-electric buses continue to service Florida State University (FSU) campus, making it one of the first universities in the nation to use all-electric buses. StarMetro plans to add three more all-electric buses in 2022. Buses are charged at one of six charging ports located at StarMetro’s administrative offices along with two Level 3 Fast Charging overhead charging stations on FSU campus and a central Level 3 DC Fast Charging overhead charging station at CK Steele Plaza. StarMetro plans to place one 150 kW depot charging port inside its garage facility and is developing a conceptual design for a central bus charging depot that incorporates solar energy and battery storage to eventually support a 100% electric bus fleet.
Rooftop Solar: The pace of rooftop solar installations continues along a dramatic rise. Tallahassee saw more rooftop solar capacity installed in 2021 than in all prior years combined. Most of this growth is in the residential sector. Prior to 2019, the City received on average 10 net metering applications per year. This past year, utility customers submitted over 300 applications. By 2022, over 5,640 kWdc has been installed with an average rooftop solar system size of 9.35 kWdc. There are 20 different solar vendors active in our utility service area, according to permit records. Interest in rooftop solar is driven in part due to federal investment tax credit (ITC) and the City’s net metering policy, which together help lower the cost of ownership.
Public Electric Vehicle Charging: The City installed Level 2 charging ports for public use near Cascades Park and is in the process of installing similar charging ports at the Renaissance building and Kleman Plaza. Staff have identified several potential locations for the DC Fast Level 3 charging ports across town, including a Blueprint project on Orange Avenue, and anticipate starting the procurement process this year. In 2021, a rate ordinance was established that governs the prices that customers are charged for using these public charging ports.
Clean Energy Research: City staff regularly collaborate with local researchers from Florida State University (FSU), Florida A&M University (FAMU) to advance the science, economics, and implementation of clean energy.
One effort involves a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) funded demonstration project that seeks to improve operating characteristics of solar photovoltaic inverters tied to the electric grid. A 100-kW solar and energy storage facility will be sited on FSU’s campus to assist in the research, which is expected to wrap up in 2024.
Additionally, in collaboration with the Sierra Club and Energy Foundation, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) provided technical assistance to City staff on its clean energy planning process. NREL used their State and Local Planning for Energy (SLOPE) and Low-Income Energy Affordability Data (LEAD) tools to create customized analyses for Tallahassee, as well as county-level data for each county in Florida. Using these data-driven tools, NREL helped City staff identify and address opportunities to target clean energy and efficiency programs and policies that benefit low- and moderate-income residents.
Florida Alliance for Accelerating Solar and Storage Technology Readiness: FAASSTeR (external site) was formed to study and assist in developing pathways for successful expansion of grid-integrated solar, energy storage, and other distributed energy resources in Florida in a way that maximizes value and reduces risk. Tallahassee is a founding member and primary contributor to the study of solar and storage in Florida by NREL researchers.
NREL’s State and Local Planning for Energy (SLOPE) Tool
The State and Local Planning for Energy (SLOPE) (external site) Platform is an easy-to-access online platform to support data-driven state and local energy and decarbonization planning. SLOPE includes two distinct tools to support jurisdictions’ planning needs.
DOE’s Low-Income Energy Affordability Data (LEAD) Tool
The LEAD Tool (external site) helps stakeholders make data-driven decisions on energy goals and program planning by improving their understanding of low-income and moderate-income household energy characteristics.
NREL Grid Modernization
NREL addresses the challenges of today’s electric grid through high-impact research and development in power systems engineering and resource assessment. Learn more at: NREL Grid Modernization Tool (external site)