Babcock Ranch in Florida Slated to House Solar-Powered City

By Elizabeth Fairchild, your energy and finance news source

Private developers team with state

University of Oregon in Eugene uses solar panels to supplement power.

Babcock Ranch could soon be the site of a groundbreaking project, if the plan meets with Florida state officials’ approval. Developer Kitson & Partners intends to build the largest-ever on-site solar photovoltaic energy facility and world’s first fully solar-powered city.

“Babcock Ranch is a collaborative effort between Kitson & Partners, the State of Florida, Charlotte and Lee counties, major environmental groups and others,” Reports the Palm Beach Post.

Saving energy, creating jobs, spending money

Syd Kitson, chairman and CEO of Palm Beach Gardens-based Kitson & Partners, estimated the solar plant will create 200 to 300 jobs.

“We want to make this the most environmentally responsible, sustainable community ever designed.”

The project will cost a pretty penny, too. I don’t know where Kitson & Partners are getting their cash advances from, but they’ve already spent $700 million to purchase 92,000-acre Babcock Ranch. The solar plan will cost about $300 million.

Sunny living at Babcock Ranch

That $1 billion doesn’t even include the cost of building the city itself. The company calls Babcock Ranch the “City of Tomorrow. The developers plan to build more than 18,000 homes. The city will also house 6 million square feet of commercial development, and the whole thing will be powered completely by the sun.

Collaboration

Florida Power & Light Co., the state’s largest electric utility,will build the 75-megawatt solar plant. The plant will power Kitson & Partners’ 17,800-acre city in Charlotte and Lee counties. Solar panels on top of buildings and spread throughout the city will convert sunlight directly into electricity. The technology is “carbon-free, uses no water and produces no waste,” reports the Post.

Taking it a step further

Babcock Ranch will encourage other types of carbon and waste free energy as well. FPL will build “solar kiosks,” which will allow electric car owners to plug in and power up at different locations throughout the city.