DANIA BEACH, Fla. – Sleepless nights and crazed mornings; that’s how some residents describe living near the new FPL Dania Beach Clean Energy Center.
“Sometimes they turn up,” said resident Louis Toll. “I guess upon power demand.”
Many longtime residents off Southwest 38th Terrace in Dania Beach told Local 10 News the noises periodically coming from the plant are deafening and sometimes continue for 24-hours straight.
“Laying in bed, it doesn’t matter,” said resident, Stacy Toll. “You put earplugs in with a pillow on top, nothing works.”
Her husband Louis added, “The entire house vibrates. It sounds like there’s an airplane or a subway.”
Resident Lisa Esmer said she is worried about her windows and is considering replacing them with impact glass now.
According to Dania Beach City leaders, FPL began performing tests at the center which is expected to go online in June.
A post on the city’s Facebook page reads in-part, “As an essential part of preparation for the Clean Energy Center startup, all of the steam piping is required to be cleaned. Because of this, large amounts of steam can be seen in the air above the plant.”
It continues, “The release of this steam is much louder than the plant will be when it begins regular operations. This is only temporary. The cleaning will end around February 18th.”
Several residents said the idea of living with the noise for several more weeks is sickening and some are considering legal action.
Some, like Stacy and Louis Toll told Local 10 News they knew about the plant but never expected anything like this.
“Listen, we bought here. We knew there was a power plant,” said Louis Toll. “The noise in the previous plant wasn’t as loud.”
Esmer added the noise was “not continuously … and definitely not as loud.”
Dania Beach City leaders have been in regular communication with FPL. City representatives told Local 10 News the plant would not be able to open without undergoing this process.
Numerous residents around the neighborhood are frustrated, insisting they were told when the plant was under construction that it would be further away from homes and an office building would be built instead.
The city of Dania Beach released a phone number for residents. Should you have any questions, please contact The FPL Clean Energy Center Manager at (954) 797-3615.
FPL also released the following statement:
“At FPL, we continue to modernize our power generation fleet – replacing older, outdated power plants with highly efficient facilities that produce more energy with less fuel and substantially lower emissions. The FPL Dania Beach Clean Energy Center will be one of the cleanest, most efficient power-generating facilities of its kind in the world when it enters service later this year.
FPL is currently performing testing of some of the new equipment at the plant as we prepare the facility to begin serving customers. The testing results in temporary and intermittent periods of increased noise as steam is vented from the plant. Currently we expect the temporary steam ventilation, which is causing the noise, to be completed by Feb. 18.
We understand that the increased noise has been disruptive for some of our customers in the area, and we apologize for this temporary inconvenience as we work to ensure continued reliable power generation for the community. Our team is looking at additional options to help mitigate the effects of the noise as we work to complete the testing.”