The Florida Public Service Commission approved Tampa Electric Company’s proposal to buy solar energy from a 25-megawatt plant in Polk County, solar developer Energy 5.0 said.

The solar firm will build, operate and maintain the facility, which is slated to be built on 350 acres of a reclaimed phosphate mine site. It will deliver clean electricity to Tampa Electric Company over a 25-year period.

"The E5.0 team is very excited to be working with Tampa Electric to help make renewables a reality in Florida," Energy 5.0 chairman and CEO Bud Cherry said this week.

Construction of the solar plant is expected to begin in fall 2010, Energy 5.0 noted. When complete, it will generate enough electricity to power 3,400 homes; over the 25-year contract, it will offset 1.2 million tons of carbon emissions.

In October, another Florida utility opened a 25-megawatt solar power plant in DeSoto County. Florida Power and Light’s facility is the nation’s largest solar photovoltaic system, the utility says. Its 90,500 solar panels generate 42,000 megawatt-hours of electricity every year, enough to power 3,000 homes.