Hurricane Milton Exposes Green New Deal’s Fragility: Costly Solar Panels Destroyed in Florida, Leaving Thousands in the Dark

In a devastating blow to the Democrat’s Green New Deal agenda, the solar panel farm at Lake Placid, Florida, was ripped apart by Hurricane Milton, exposing the inherent vulnerabilities of relying on so-called “green energy.”

The 380-acre Lake Placid Solar Power Plant, was meant to symbolize the future of energy, but after Hurricane Milton’s landfall, it now stands as a symbol of the failures of environmental utopianism.

The 45-megawatt (MW) plant consists of approximately 180,000 tracking solar panels.

This solar facility, touted for its ability to power over 12,000 homes at peak production, was ravaged by the storm’s extreme conditions.

Now, viral footage shows the mangled array of panels, symbolizing both the fragility and limitations of a “renewable-only” energy approach in high-stakes weather events.

WATCH:

According to Duke Energy:

Our crews are working to assess the damage to our Florida service footprint after #Milton made landfall, along with emergency response agencies, residents and others who are taking stock of what is needed in the days ahead.

Milton was a force, bringing a record 11.5 inches of rainfall to Tampa, the most in 100+ years. More than 126 tornado warnings were issued by the U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) – a record for the state of Florida, and the second-highest number of tornado warnings issued in a single day in the U.S.

With any storm of this magnitude, we are anticipating a lengthy restoration process and encourage our customers to prepare for extended outages and prioritize their safety.

Our trucks are rolling as soon as conditions allow, and we’ll work as safely and quickly as possible.

Duke Energy, responsible for maintaining the solar plant, admitted that restoration efforts will be long and difficult, with nearly 43,000 customers out of 60,000 customers are still without power in the aftermath of the storm, according to Energy Central.

County officials reported that 97% of the area lost power immediately following the storm.

Todd Fountain, Duke Energy Florida storm director, described the extensive damage to their infrastructure.

“From downed trees and branches falling on our power lines to storm surge flooding our equipment – which causes almost immediate corrosion – our infrastructure was severely damaged by Hurricane Milton. We’re making repairs where we can, but we anticipate we will need to rebuild in many areas,” Fountain said.

“Despite that, our crews are doing all they can, even working through the night, to get the lights back on for as many customers as possible as quickly as possible.”