Florida to Get World's Second Largest Solar Power Plant

Lauren Engineers & Constructors recently signed a contract with Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) as the engineering, procurement and construction contractor for a new 75 MW Concentrated Solar Power Plant located near Indiantown, FL.

This landmark solar project will achieve several milestones for solar power, including:

• The second largest solar thermal power plant in the World
• The largest solar thermal plant outside of California
• The first hybrid solar facility in the world to connect to an existing combined-cycle power plant

This project, named the Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center, will be located on 500 acres of land adjacent to FPL's Martin Plant. Using Parabolic Trough Technology to capture heat from the sun, this project will include approximately 200,000 parabolic mirrors. Total power produced for this new solar plant will be 155,000 MWh of power annually - enough power for 11,000 homes or 26,000 people.

Utilizing the latest in Solar Thermal technology, this revolutionary solar project will help to advance the field of solar power by producing clean energy at a competitive price. According to FPL's website, the Martin Facility is expected to reduce green house gas emissions by approximately 2.75 million tons over a thirty year period, which is the equivalent of removing more than 18,700 cars from the road annually for the next 30 years.

"Lauren is proud to build this project and is dedicated to a project approach which minimizes disruption to the local community and ecosystem," said Cleve Whitener, CEO of Lauren Engineers & Constructors.

In addition to this milestone solar project, Lauren also built the Nevada Solar One Power Plant, a 64 MW solar power plant located in Boulder City, Nevada. Construction for this plant, the largest built in over 17 years, was completed in June 2007. Lauren's key role as the only contractor to have built a concentrated solar power facility in the US in the last 17 years has helped to solidify Lauren as the premier contractor for solar power facilities in North America.