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DeSoto's solar panels are glimpse of future

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The Associated Press

Published: October 28, 2009

ARCADIA - Greg Bove steps into his pickup and drives down a sandy path to where the future of Florida's renewable energy plans begin: Acres of open land filled with solar panels that will soon power thousands of homes and business.

For nearly a year, construction workers and engineers in this Florida town have been building the nation's largest solar panel energy plant. Testing will soon be complete, and the facility will begin directly converting sunlight into energy.

President Barack Obama toured the DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center, which is designed to generate enough energy for about 3,000 residential customers of the utility Florida Power & Light. It is the nation's largest photovoltaic electricity facility.

Obama said Tuesday a modern grid could give consumers better control over their electricity usage and costs, and spur development of renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar.

As demand grows and more states create mandates requiring a certain percentage of their energy come from renewable sources, the size of the plants is increasing. The Southwest Florida facility will soon be eclipsed by larger projects announced in Nevada and California.

"We took a chance at it and it worked out," said Bove, construction manager at the project, set on about 180 acres of land. "There's a lot of backyard projects, there's a lot of rooftop projects, post offices and stores. Really this is one of the first times where we've taken a technology and upsized it."

The investment isn't cheap: The Desoto project cost $150 million to build, but created 400 jobs.

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