JUNO BEACH, Fla. – Matt Valle vividly recalls the five years he spent working on a nuclear submarine while serving in the U.S. Navy. Living 500-feet underwater with 130 other sailors, high explosives and a nuclear reactor teaches you a few things.
“You get technical training, you get leadership training, and it really disciplines you to be focused on what is most important,” said Valle, president of NextEra Energy Transmission. “You are always thinking about the mission that needs to be accomplished.”
After leaving military service, that same sense of mission and purpose led Valle to NextEra Energy, a company at the forefront of addressing the country’s rising energy demands. As Americans celebrate Independence Day, Valle reflects on how NextEra Energy Transmission is uniquely positioned to help the nation achieve energy independence. While many Americans recognize that power plants are needed to generate electricity, often lost is the necessity of transmission lines, which are an essential component to getting newly generated clean energy across long distances and into communities.
“NextEra Energy is unlocking the potential of this country,” said Valle. “As a team, we are very proud of what we do because this is a tough business just like military service, but it’s also a very rewarding business because we are building infrastructure that will outlast us.”
Over the last decade, NextEra Energy Transmission has built approximately 2,200 miles of transmission lines in 16 states, representing $5 billion in total investments – creating jobs and injecting millions of dollars in new tax revenue into communities from coast to coast. By 2032, NextEra Energy Transmission is expected to build approximately 1000 additional miles of transmission lines by investing approximately $3.2 billion and will be operating in 16 states and Canada. In June, NextEra Energy CEO John Ketchum told investors that electricity demand is at an inflection point, driven by a convergence of power and technology.
“Nobody is better positioned than NextEra to serve the clean energy customer of tomorrow," said Ketchum. “I couldn’t be more confident in our team, our ability to execute, our growth prospects, our financial expectations and our vision as we lead the energy transition.”
Although Valle started his career at NextEra Energy in the transmission division he now leads, in 2015 the company’s leadership asked him to help at sister company Florida Power & Light Company by heading up the company’s statewide development programs.
During his prolific six-year tenure as vice president for FPL development, Valle spearheaded groundbreaking initiatives that revolutionized how FPL generated electricity for more than half the state. Under his leadership, FPL began leading the nation’s largest solar expansions, which includes FPL SolarTogether program, the largest community solar program in the country. His team also pioneered the FPL Manatee Energy Storage Center, which was the world’s largest solar-powered battery system when it went into operation in 2021.
Valle’s team built out an electric vehicle charging program that links major corridors in Florida, they partnered with South Florida leaders to use reclaimed water in an FPL power plant and began collaborating with PortMiami to bring shore power to cruise ships docked at port. FPL also began developing the first at-scale hydrogen pilot program at the Cavendish NextGen Hydrogen Hub in Okeechobee County.
“It was cool to be part of projects and programs in my own community that my neighbors asked me about,” said Valle.
Bottom line, Valle understands how to develop new generation projects, but he’s also keenly aware that new generation doesn’t mean much if there’s no way to deliver it to communities.
That’s where NextEra Energy Transmission comes in.
When Valle returned to the business unit two years ago, the team had grown exponentially, as did the projects the company pursued nationwide. The pipeline of opportunities ballooned ten-fold, from $4 billion when he left to $40 billion just six years later.
“Whether you want to say it’s about energy independence or resiliency against extreme weather or lowering bills for customers – those are worthy things to be tackling as a team,” said Valle. “I tell people they could go to a lot of other companies in this industry, but I don’t think they can go anywhere else and have the same impact. Expanding the nation’s grid is a hard task and I think that’s what gets a lot of folks here really excited. They are part of that bigger mission.”
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