![]() "For us, it's been about the cost of solar to make economic sense for our customers," she said.Tricounty Rural Electric Cooperative, Inc., Malinta, Ohio, is one of Ohio’s 25 electric distribution cooperatives. She said the "Sunshine State" logo is great for tourist marketing, but residents know Florida is a state that gets a lot of rain, so that limits how often solar farms can produce electricity. The main hurdle was being able to invest in solar without causing a rate increase. "As long as you have the native plants that they've evolved with, you're going to be able to attract them."Īlys Daly, manager of public affairs for FPL, said the power company prides itself on having clean-burning plants that use natural gas and nuclear power, so the solar fits that strategy. "We know in nature every bird, every animal, every critter has its own environmental niche," she said. Audubon would like to do similar partnerships with other utilities to take advantage of the open space afforded by the solar farms, said Jacqui Sulek, chapter conversation manager for Audubon Florida. As for the "not in my backyard" syndrome that faces other kinds of power plants, solar farms are so quiet that FPL can say they make "virtually no sound." The tilted panels are six to eight feet off the ground, so they aren't visible like the tall stacks and towers of other power plants.Įxcept for the vans filled with dignitaries for the tour, no other vehicles were at the site because FPL monitors the solar farms from a center in Juno Beach.Īlong with installing solar panels, FPL is working with Audubon Florida to enhance the solar farms as habitat for native plants, birds and pollinators like bees and butterflies. ![]() He said the solar farm created construction jobs for residents and will generate higher property taxes than the land's former agricultural use. "I was ecstatic," he said as he joined other Putnam County leaders on a tour last week. Coral Farms produces 74.5 megawatts, so it's somewhat bigger than the 50 megawatt solar farms that JEA will bring online at sites on the city's Westside.īrian Bergen, vice president of economic development for the Putnam County Chamber of Commerce, said he welcomed FPL's interest in building the solar farms. The Coral Farms Solar Center in Putnam County offers a window into that future. On a per-customer basis, JEA will have the fifth-highest growth rate for solar power among hundreds of utilities in a seven-state region tracked by the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. Last October, the JEA board approved a plan for building 250 megawatts of solar power at five new solar farms. JEA currently generates 33 megawatts of solar power at six sites. JEA, which is the state's largest municipal utility, is going on its own for solar power. They would produce 223 megagwatts by 2020. This month, Beaches Energy joined forces with 11 other municipal utilities to announce plans for 900,000 solar panels at three solar farms in Orange and Osceola counties. Smaller utilities like Beaches Energy, which is owned by Jacksonville Beach and also serves Neptune Beach and Ponte Vedra, likewise are getting into the game. "When they realize it does meet their cost expectations and output and reliability and all the other criteria they're interested in, then they go all in, and we're starting to see that, not just in Florida."įPL, the state's biggest electric utility and the third-largest in the nation, is in the midst of building solar farms that will end up adding 10 million solar panels at 38 solar plants from 2016 to 2023, enough to power about 400,000 homes. "They dip their toes in the water first because they don't trust their own economics - it seems too good to be true," said Bryan Jacob, solar program director at the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. The battle for JEA's business comes at a time when utilities are deciding the price is right for solar power after the cost of the technology dropped dramatically over the past decade.
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