Aside from reorganizing and diversifying, another major change under way at Florida utilties is the switch to coal power. A report released by the Florida Governor's Energy Office in late December confirmed that in 1984, coal surged past petroleum as the most-used fuel for electric generation in the state.
About 31 percent of the energy used to generate electricity came from coal in 1984. Nuclear power captured second place, with an almost 23 percent share. Petroleum, historically the leader, fell to third place with a 17.5 percent share, primarily because of its higher relative price and the availability of alternate supplies, said Katie Tucker, energy office director.
The trend toward reliance on coal will continue, despite recent lowering of world oil prices, in part because more coal-fired plants have been built in recent years -- three were completed in 1984 -- and several more are under construction or in the planning stages.
Tampa Electric, for example, has been able to achieve almost 99 percent of its electrical generation from coal, after completing its Big Bend coal- fired project in early 1985 just south of Port Sutton on Tampa Bay. The company also recently converted four of its oil-fired units at Gannon Station, just north of Big Bend, to coal.
Florida Power Corp. added a fourth coal-fired unit to its massive 4,700-acre Crystal River energy complex in 1984, a move that should provide the company with enough generating capacity to last another decade, according to Value Line Investment Survey.
''In the pre-energy-crisis days before OPEC, Florida Power generation was about 88 percent oil. Today, you're looking at barely 15 percent produced with oil,'' said David Waldrop, Florida Power spokesman in the company's Winter Park office. Four of the company's five units at Crystal River are coal; the fifth is nuclear.
The Crystal River complex burns about 6 million tons of coal a year, and 650,000 tons are stockpiled to provide a six- to eight-week supply in case of any interruption of supplies. The coal is delivered to Crystal River, on the Gulf about 70 miles northwest of Orlando, by 90-car trains and combinations of ocean barges and tugs from the Mississippi River.
Florida Power & Light Co. is reducing its reliance on petroleum by joining Jacksonville Electric Authority in the construction of two large coal- fired units in Northeast Florida. The plants should begin producing electricity in 1987 or 1988. The company, along with Florida Power, also is buying more electricity from the Southern Co., a consortium of Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi coal power companies.
For calendar 1985, FPL bought 19.6 million megawatt hours of electricity more cheaply than it could produce it -- a third of the company's total sales, said David Wolverton, an FPL spokesman. It saved the company 32 milion barrels of oil, or $800 million.
Most of the the larger municipal systems in Florida -- Jacksonville Electric Authority, Orlando Utilities Commission, the City of Lakeland, and Gainesville Regional Utilities -- also are moving to coal.