Gulf Power CEO Touts Airport: Story Says Relocation to West Bay Area Will Draw in Business; Company Ready for Growth

By Daniel Carson, The News Herald, Panama City, Fla.

Mar. 10–PANAMA CITY BEACH — With strong aviation, defense and manufacturing industries, plus an anticipated new airport, Northwest Florida is well-positioned to enjoy future growth, Gulf Power Co. President and CEO Susan Story said Friday. Story cautioned, however, that individual counties need to use a regional approach and work together to take advantage of potential economic development opportunities. “Economic development is everyone’s job,” Story said in a speech to the Greater Panama City Beaches Chamber of Commerce’s “Friday at the Beach” event. A past vice chairman of Enterprise Florida’s board of directors, Story stressed the importance of creating small businesses within the state and region. Story relayed a conversation she had with friends in Miami about the new Panama City-Bay County International Airport planned for the West Bay area. She said her friends were “envious,” in part because of Miami’s airport being landlocked and limited in its future expansion capabilities. Story added the new airport had drawn the attention of many aviation companies with interest in Bay County. Chamber President Debi Knight said her office is getting between 250 and 300 inquiries a week about the airport’s relocation. “We were getting 20 to 25 this time last year,” Knight said. Knight said the chamber expects hundreds of new companies, including high-tech industries, to move into the county, drawn by the new airport. Looking toward the future After the speech, Story said Gulf Power is well prepared to deal with future residential and commercial growth around the new airport’s proposed site, as well as the rest of Bay County and Northwest Florida. Gulf Power looks 20 years out to determine its customers’ power needs, aided by a sophisticated usage model, she said. The utility also has access to Southern Company’s transmission system, Story said. From 2009 to 2014, Gulf Power will need 600 megawatts of peaking capacity for the area. Story said the utility is purchasing that power from two companies. Construction of a new wood pellet plant in Jackson County, plus federal and state efforts to find alternative energy sources, has put a heightened emphasis on developing renewable energy. Gulf Power offers to customers a photovoltaic program, which gives them the opportunity to purchase blocks of solar kilowatt-hours. Story said Gulf Power would like to do a test run at some point on using wood chips as an energy source, and she pointed out the utility has worked on developing sawgrass for use as alternative energy. Cost and what customers are willing to pay will be the keys to the pace of alternative energy development, she said.

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Copyright (c) 2007, The News Herald, Panama City, Fla.

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