4 months ago
ARCADIA, Fl. (The Fort Myers News-Press) -- Its name is impressively futuristic: The DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center.
Its power also is impressive: At 25 megawatts, the Florida Power & Light project, scheduled to become operational this week, will be the largest solar plant in the nation (the second-largest solar plant in the United States is the 14.2-megawatt plant at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada).
The solar plant has caught the attention of President Barack Obama as well. On Tuesday, he will travel to FPL's facility for a tour and a speech.
"This is a great time to get into solar," said Buck Martinez, senior director of project development. "First, it's probably the cleanest form of energy. The fuel is free - it's from the sun. There are no emissions and no use of cooling water."
Another reason this is a good time for Florida to get into solar energy, Martinez said, is that solar plants can help the economy.
"This is an incredible opportunity to build new industry in the state," he said. "It will put people to work. Solar energy can create tens of thousands of jobs."
Andrew McElwaine, president of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, said Florida is finally catching up to other states in the solar-energy field.
"It's overdue," he said. "We are the Sunshine State, and here we are just getting our shoes on. While we're patting ourselves on the back, we need to recognize that states with less solar potential have done even more. But I do think we deserve a pat."
Built on 180 acres of FPL land 10 miles north of Arcadia, the $152 million project consists of more than 90,000 solar panels and will produce enough power to serve 3,000 homes.
Electricity will not be sent only to DeSoto County, Martinez said, but instead will be put on the grid.
A criticism of solar energy is it's more expensive than fossil fuels.
"The capital costs are higher than fossil fuel, and the way to come down is scale: The more you build, the cheaper it gets," Martinez said. "Then you have free fuel, compared to gas or coal plants, and no water. Maintenance costs are minimal: Solar projects practically man themselves. From an architectural and engineering point of view, they run forever."
This is a good time to build solar projects because a glut in Europe of solar panels has brought down prices, and land prices are down because of the weak economy.
One benefit of solar energy is it reduces the need for fossil fuel, so that, over 30 years, the DeSoto plant will prevent the emission of 575,000 tons of greenhouse gases.
That's the equivalent of removing 135,000 cars from the state's roads.
The DeSoto plant isn't FPL's only solar operation preparing to go online.
Next year, plants in Martin County and at Kennedy Space Center (a joint project with NASA) will begin producing electricity.
The DeSoto, Martin and Space Center plants will make Florida the second largest supplier of solar power in the United States, after California.
"The governor of California is very bullish about solar," Martinez said. "I think it would be fine to terminate the Terminator and make Florida No. 1 in solar power."
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