Florida Data Centers | FPL Economic Development

WHY LOCATE DATA CENTERS IN FLORIDA?

To pay less for the power that drives your business.

FLORIDA HAS THE COMPETITIVE EDGE FOR YOUR DATA CENTER

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#2 BEST STATE FOR BUSINESS

A survey of CEOs from Chief Executive Magazine named Florida the second-best state for business. Home to a highly educated workforce and continual investments in new infrastructure, Florida is the smart choice when it comes to locating your data center.

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#1 BUSINESS TAX CLIMATE IN THE SOUTHEAST U.S.

The Tax Foundation ranks Florida No. 1 in the Southeast U.S. and No. 4 in the nation on business tax-friendliness. With no individual income tax and low corporate tax rates, you can focus on investing in your business in Florida.

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NINE Submarine Cable Landing Points

Florida’s telecom and fiber infrastructure makes it easy to connect to the world. The state has more submarine cable landing points than any other state on the East Coast, ensuring reliable connectivity with Latin American, Caribbean and European markets.

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tier 1 Telecom Providers

Century Link, Cogent, Level 3, Sprint, Verizon, XO, Zayo and more comprise a powerful network of major telecom providers in the Sunshine State. This means that data centers in Florida run smoothly 24/7, thanks to our state’s digital infrastructure.

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TAX EXEMPTIONS FOR YOUR BUSINESS

Florida exempts sales and use tax on data center properties, energy and construction materials. By establishing your data center in Florida, you can invest your tax exemption savings in growing your business.

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UNIQUE, COMPETITIVE TAX ADVANTAGES

Florida is one of only four states that exempts electricity sales tax. With data centers requiring large amounts of power to meet the needs of customers, Florida offers a cost-effective location to operate your data center.

FLORIDA OFFERS DATA CENTER TAX INCENTIVES

Florida is a competitive state for data center investment in part because of its favorable tax policies. The Sunshine State is one of only four states that exempts the sales and use tax on electricity. It also has exemptions from sales and use tax on data center property. The term “property” includes, but is not limited to, construction materials, component parts, machinery, equipment, computers, servers, installations, redundancies, and operating or enabling software, including any replacements, updates and new versions, and upgrades to or for such property, regardless of whether the property is a fixture or is otherwise affixed to or incorporated into real property.

The tax policy is meant to attract large power users, requiring data centers in Florida to make a minimum capital investment of $150 million and have a critical IT load of 15 MW or more.

APPLY TO MAKE YOUR DATA CENTER FACILITY TAX EXEMPT

WHY FPL IS DATA CENTER-DRIVEN

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Best-In-Class Reliability

With its award-winning reliability, FPL offers businesses a smart option for operating their data centers in Florida. FPL’s reliability is 44% better than the national average and boasts the best SAIDI rating in the state. And in 2019, for the fourth time in five years, FPL received the 2019 ReliabilityOne^TM Award, a prestigious recognition for electric utilities for providing their customers with the highest levels of reliability in the industry.

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STORM RESILIENT DATA CENTER INFRASTRUCTURE

FPL’s storm investments to build a stronger, smarter and more storm resilient grid helped the company restore power eight days faster for customers following Hurricane Irma. In fact, more than half of the customers affected by Irma were restored within one full day of the hurricane exiting the state. FPL’s hurricane-ready grid gives companies a secure energy source to power their data centers in Florida.

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AFFORDABLE RATES & INCENTIVES FOR DATA CENTERS

FPL offers electric rates that are 41% below the national average―as low as $0.05/kWh—as well as unique, negotiable FPL incentive rates for qualifying projects of 2 MW+. FPL also provides businesses with specialized workforce development assistance and our Economic Development Rider (EDR). These programs are designed to help attract new investment and give companies a strategic advantage in Florida’s economic development landscape.

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ADVANCED SMART GRID

FPL uses advanced sensors to quickly identify outages and has installed more than 12,000 smart devices on the electric grid to help improve service reliability. In 2020, smart grid technologies could reduce the cost of power interruptions by more than 75%, saving businesses with data centers in Florida over $150 billion a year.

Additional Resources

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