Florida Unlocks 1 GW of Solar on Highway Stormwater Ponds

Florida just solved one of solar energy's biggest headaches by looking at what was already there.

The Florida Department of Transportation signed a groundbreaking master lease with D3 Energy to install floating solar panels on stormwater ponds across the state. The first project, a floating array on an FDOT pond in Orlando, is already up and running.

Here's why this matters: Florida has plenty of sunshine but limited space for large solar farms. Every acre counts in a state where development and conservation compete for land.

D3 Energy estimates these existing stormwater ponds can support over 1 gigawatt of floating solar capacity statewide. That's enough clean energy to power more than 200,000 Florida homes while saving roughly 5,000 acres from being converted into traditional ground-mounted solar farms.

"In Florida, the bottleneck on new solar is rarely capital or technology. It's available land," said Stetson Tchividjian, managing director of D3 Energy. "This lease solves that at the state level."

The master lease replaces the old piecemeal approach where developers had to negotiate site by site. Now one statewide agreement covers access to thousands of ponds, speeding up deployment and cutting through red tape that previously slowed clean energy projects.

The arrangement also generates recurring lease revenue for Florida, turning passive infrastructure into income at no cost to taxpayers. For utilities, it means new generation capacity right where demand already exists, alongside highways and substations.

The Ripple Effect

This model could reshape how states think about renewable energy infrastructure. Thousands of stormwater ponds sit beside highways across America, serving a single purpose: managing runoff.

Now Florida is proving these ponds can do double duty. The floating solar panels don't compete with agriculture, housing, or conservation land. They work with existing infrastructure instead of against it.

Other states are watching. If Florida's notoriously complex regulatory environment can make this work, the floating solar model becomes viable almost anywhere. D3 Energy spent years working with FDOT to navigate regulations and prove the concept.

The first Orlando project demonstrates the technology works in real world conditions. The panels float on pontoons, generate clean electricity, and don't interfere with the ponds' stormwater management function.

For a state that has historically struggled with renewable energy deployment, this represents genuine progress. The partnership shows how creative thinking about existing resources can unlock solutions that seemed impossible through traditional approaches.

Florida's highways now have a second job: helping power the state's clean energy future.