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Duke Energys Lake Placid photovoltaic facility was hit by an EF-2 tornado during Hurricane Milton, which destroyed a swath of solar modules and left much of the facility intact.
A tornado has ripped through a solar power plant in central Florida. Images released by Duke Energy show a swath of solar modules torn from the single-axis trackers holding them in place.
Local weather reports identified the storm as an EF-2 tornado, with winds between 111 and 135 miles per hour. According to the county sheriffs department, the tornado occurred before Hurricane Milton made landfall, also damaging between 20 and 30 homes in the area.
The Duke Energy facility was initially developed by EDF Renewables before being sold to Duke Energy, which completed development and construction of the plant in 2019. The solar portion of the plant has a grid-connected capacity of 45 MW, supported by 63.2 MW of solar panels. An 18 MW lithium-ion battery was added in 2022.
Damage was limited to the westernmost quadrant of the facility, leaving most of the plant intact and possibly still operational. The tornados path extended primarily from north to south, and the storm appeared widest in the northern portion before tapering off as it dissipated to the south.
Duke Energy reported that during Hurricane Milton, Florida issued at least 126 tornado warnings.
According to documents published in 2019, the solar farm cost approximately $60.6 million to build.
Since Hurricane Andrew in 1992, Florida has steadily strengthened its wind codes, implementing innovations over the decades to make structures more resistant to high winds. One key change was increased wind speed requirements for new construction. The solar farm, located in Highland County, would have had to be structurally designed to withstand winds of up to 150 mph.
Several years ago, the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory published a report offering guidance on wind-hardening solar energy systems. The document, “ Solar Photovoltaics in Severe Weather: Cost Considerations for Storm Hardening PV Systems for Resilience,” outlines 13 strategies for improving a site’s ability to withstand higher winds, along with the costs associated with these improvements.
In general, single-axis trackers tend to provide less robust support for solar panels compared to fixed racking systems. |
