BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. -- Alternative energy will create even more jobs on the Space Coast.

NASA and Florida Power and Light flipped the switch on their new solar power plant Thursday at the Kennedy Space Center. Eyewitness News learned two more plants will soon go online, as well.

Some construction is already underway. They are now installing 30,000 solar panels at the facility on the south side of the Kennedy Space Center.

The space center announced Thursday they are going to tear down more overgrown citrus groves around there to expand the power output by ten times. When it's complete, the Kennedy Space Center's solar center will be the third largest photovoltaic facility in the country. That will reduce the emission of the equivalent of 1,800 cars from the road for 30 years.

The first phase of the project was switched on at a ceremony fully powered by the sun.

"It's a small percentage of what we use here at the center, but it's a start and it shows our commitment to renewable energy and cleaner environment," KSC Director Bob Cabana said.

Cabana announced plans to expand the solar power farm to 500 acres of land where overgrown unused citrus trees now stand. The plan would increase solar power generation from 10 megawatts to 100. That's enough to power 10,000 homes or more than half the city of Titusville without a drop of foreign oil.

"We are producing clean energy, no pollution, burning no fuel and using no water. It's a win-win all the way around," Cabana said.

The space center is also in talks to develop a permanent solar research and development center that would include at least 50 high-salary science and engineering positions. As many as 1,000 construction workers could be used to build it all.

It's not free and it's not cheap. Florida Power and Light is using millions in utility revenues and tax breaks to pay for it all. But, they insist, it's an investment that in the long run it will keep utility rates down. Residents pay about .25 cents a month out of FPL bills to pay for the projects.

This part of the solar power plant could be online by the summer of 2010. The big expansion they are now planning first has to be approved by state regulators.