Florida Power and Light Company (FPL, Juno Beach, Florida, U.S.) President and CEO Armando Olivera has announced that he will retire on May 2nd, 2012, after 40 years with FPL.

With Olivera as president and CEO, in recent years FPL has built record-setting solar photovoltaic (PV) and concentrating solar power (CSP) plants, as a regional and national leader in utility adoption of solar technologies.

"Under Armando's leadership, our investments have provided FPL customers with the lowest bill in the state, reliability that is in the top quartile nationally, emissions that are far lower than the national average and award-winning service," stated FPL parent company NextEra Energy Chairman and CEO Lew Hay.

"I want to thank him not only for these exceptional results, but also for his personal commitment, dedication and leadership over a period of four decades."

FPL builds Martin, DeSoto plants under Olivera

FPL hired Armando Olivera in 1972 as an engineer trainee. Olivera served in multiple capacities for the company, including as senior VP of FPL's Power Systems Business Unit, before being promoted to president and CEO in 2003.

Under Olivera's leadership, in October 2009 the company completed the 25 MW DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center in Arcadia, Florida, which was the largest PV plant in the United States at the time.

In December 2010 FPL commissioned the Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center, a 75 MW hybrid natural gas/CSP plant, which is currently the only operational CSP plant in the Eastern half of the United States.

On October 19th, 2011, Armando Olivera was named Utility CEO of the Year at the 2011 Solar Power International trade show.

Eric Silagy to succeed Olivera

Current FPL Senior VP of Regulatory and State Government Affairs Eric Silagy has been named to succeed Olivera, and was named FPL president as of the announcement on December 19th, 2011.

Silagy joined NextEra Energy Resources in 2003 as VP of business development. He has also served as VP and General Manager for NextEra Energy Resources' southern region.

2011-12-28| Courtesy: Florida Power and Light Company; Image source: NextEra Energy Inc. | solarserver.com © Heindl Server GmbH

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