First Solar-Powered City Set To Be Built In Florida
Posted on: Friday, 10 April 2009, 11:00 CDT
A Florida utility and a real estate developer are building the world's largest photovoltaic solar plant in a planned, environmentally friendly city near Fort Myers in southwestern Florida, Reuters reported.
FPL Group Inc's utility Florida Power & Light and the realty group Kitson & Partners hope to bring the country's first solar-powered city to the Sunshine State.
The developers said the city, which is to be called Babcock Ranch, will aim to build 19,500 houses and about 6 million square feet of retail, light industrial, and office space once it is completed.
“Babcock, which will help create 20,000 jobs, can serve as a model for other communities throughout the nation,” said Syd Kitson, chief executive of Kitson & Partners.
Kitson said at a press conference introducing the $2 billion project: "Babcock Ranch will be a living laboratory for companies, workers and families ready to reap the rewards of innovation."
It will be the first ever solar-powered city, in that it will use only solar power during the day and produce more solar power than it needs, therefore becoming a net exporter of solar power, according to a spokesman for the project.
The entire city is expected to have wireless Internet access and electric-car chargers in addition to having its electricity generated from solar energy.
Developers are set to begin construction of the city in June 2010, with the first residential and commercial buildings targeted for late 2010.
U.S. President Barack Obama has pledged to create millions of jobs by moving the country toward a green-energy economy as the United States continues to suffer from recession and falling housing prices.
The housing bust has been particularly hard on Florida, which is now staggering under high mortgage foreclosure rates, dropping home prices and slowing population growth.
President Obama has asked for 10 percent of U.S. electricity to be generated by renewable sources such as wind and solar power by 2012 and 25 percent by 2025. Billions of dollars for clean energy investments are included in Obama’s stimulus package that was signed into law earlier this year.
However, there are no plans to use stimulus money for the projects at this point, according to the utility and realty developers.
Eric Silagy, chief development officer for Florida Power & Light, said groundbreaking for the $350 million to $400 million plant will begin late this year pending state regulatory approvals.
The state government of Florida has been extremely supportive of renewable energy and Silagy said he was optimistic about winning approval for this new plant.
He said that with three projects already under construction that showed evidence that they are very committed.
"With that continued commitment we'll be able to move forward with project very quickly," he added.
The construction of the Florida Power and Light plant will not be dictated by the status of the planned city, officials said.
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Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports
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User Comments (1)
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Posted by Preston Tucker on 04/10/2009, 14:02 Great idea. Now that you have a town in the middle of nowhere, built without regards to thousands of code standards, and no backup, A little cat 2 storm, U R screwed. Did you plan backup generators for hospitals, rescue, police, grocery stores, drug stores? Where do they get their fuel, Mr. total solar? Smoke another bowl and go back to the drawing board. |
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