FPL's St. Lucie and Turkey Point nuclear power plants recognized with industry's highest award for innovation

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Jun 02, 2016, 10:00 ET

JUNO BEACH, Fla., June 2, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE) announced today that its nuclear energy fleet, including Florida Power & Light Company's St. Lucie and Turkey Point nuclear power plants, received the Nuclear Energy Institute's 2016 top innovation award for pioneering a unique program that significantly improves plant performance.

The Nuclear Energy Institute's B. Ralph Sylvia "Best of the Best" Top Innovative Practice Award recognized the NextEra Energy nuclear fleet's Continuous Improvement Program, which standardizes effective processes, centralizes key functions and implements important efficiencies to improve the performance across all of NextEra Energy's nuclear plants. This prestigious award, which recognizes the best of the best within the nuclear industry, marks the first time the company has earned such an honor.

"We are extremely honored by this award," said Mano Nazar, NextEra Energy's president and chief nuclear officer. "By setting targets and analyzing best practices, our team is able to identify areas for standardizing, centralizing and implementing operational improvements across the entire nuclear fleet. This award is a reflection of our entire team of professionals who are committed to continuous improvement, raising standards and reinforcing public confidence in the safety of nuclear energy."

FPL's St. Lucie and Turkey Point nuclear power plants each have two nuclear generating units. In total, NextEra Energy companies own and operate eight nuclear units in four states. The St. Lucie and Turkey Point plants employ approximately 1,300 people and generate enough 24-7 electricity to power nearly 2 million Florida homes.

The Nuclear Energy Institute presented the award and praised the plants for their innovation, which serves as a model for the industry, at the 2016 Nuclear Energy Assembly in Miami, Fla. The Nuclear Energy Institute also presented NextEra Energy with the Top Innovative Practice Award for Vision, Leadership & Ingenuity.

"The company's operations are outstanding, and its innovative initiative serves as the foundation of an industry-wide initiative," said Tony Pietrangelo, the Nuclear Energy Institute's senior vice president and chief nuclear officer. "We are honored to recognize the dedicated professionals whose innovative thinking and hard work produced this remarkable accomplishment that will bring benefits to the entire industry."

Pietrangelo noted that NextEra Energy's Continuous Improvement Program yielded many positive results, including standardized procedures for training programs and the Corrective Action Program; improved contractor management, maintenance efficiency, work management and electronic work packages; and centralized outage planning and engineering.

Florida Power & Light Company

Florida Power & Light Company is the third-largest electric utility in the United States, serving more than 4.8 million customer accounts or more than 10 million people across nearly half of the state of Florida. FPL's typical 1,000-kWh residential customer bill is approximately 30 percent lower than the latest national average and, in 2015, was the lowest in Florida among reporting utilities for the sixth year in a row. FPL's service reliability is better than 99.98 percent, and its highly fuel-efficient power plant fleet is one of the cleanest among all utilities nationwide. The company was recognized in 2015 as one of the most trusted U.S. electric utilities by Market Strategies International. A leading Florida employer with approximately 8,800 employees, FPL is a subsidiary of Juno Beach, Fla.-based NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE), a clean energy company widely recognized for its efforts in sustainability, ethics and diversity, and has been ranked No. 1 in the electric and gas utilities industry in Fortune's 2016 list of "World's Most Admired Companies." NextEra Energy is also the parent company of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, which, together with its affiliated entities, is the world's largest generator of renewable energy from the wind and sun. For more information, visit these websites: www.NextEraEnergy.com, www.FPL.com, www.NextEraEnergyResources.com.

NextEra Energy, Inc.

NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE) is a leading clean energy company with consolidated revenues of approximately $17.5 billion and approximately 14,300 employees in 27 states and Canada as of year-end 2015, as well as approximately 45,000 megawatts of generating capacity, which includes megawatts associated with noncontrolling interests related to NextEra Energy Partners, LP (NYSE: NEP) as of April 2016. Headquartered in Juno Beach, Fla., NextEra Energy's principal subsidiaries are Florida Power & Light Company, which serves more than 4.8 million customer accounts in Florida and is one of the largest rate-regulated electric utilities in the United States, and NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, which, together with its affiliated entities, is the world's largest generator of renewable energy from the wind and sun. Through its subsidiaries, NextEra Energy generates clean, emissions-free electricity from eight commercial nuclear power units in Florida, New Hampshire, Iowa and Wisconsin. A Fortune 200 company and included in the S&P 100 index, NextEra Energy has been recognized often by third parties for its efforts in sustainability, corporate responsibility, ethics and compliance, and diversity, and has been ranked No. 1 in the electric and gas utilities industry in Fortune's 2016 list of "World's Most Admired Companies." For more information about NextEra Energy companies, visit these websites: www.NextEraEnergy.com, www.FPL.com, www.NextEraEnergyResources.com.