Apr 10 2009
Babcock Ranch in Florida will House a ‘Green City’
In 2005, the State of Florida and Lee County purchased 73,000 acres of land on the 90,000 acre piece of property known as Babcock Ranch. The ranch has served as a protected home to much of the Florida wildlife, including the Florida Black Bear. As an exchange for selling the land to the state, developer Sydney Kitson got the “go ahead” to turn the remaining 17,000 acres into a green city!
The first step in Kitson’s vision, is to construct a 75-megawatt solar photovoltaic array, which is scheduled to begin later this year or in the early part of 2010, according to the signed deal with Florida Power and Light. The construction of the array will employ nearly 400 people for about a year, as this is the largest planned array on the planet! The photovoltaic panels use cells that will convert sunlight into electricity preventing 61,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions in a single year. The plant and the city will be plugged into FPL’s power grid, however, since the city will use less power than the array will produce, it will become an exporter of solar electricity. This means that solar electricity will power the city during the sunny days and will then send any unneeded energy to other FPL customers.
Not only will the green city contain nearly 20,000 homes, but Kitson plans to bring renewable energy companies into the city, bringing ‘green jobs’ into the development, creating nearby jobs that won’t require long drives into the major surrounding cities. In addition to the green homes and green businesses, Kitson intends on equipping the city with electric car chargers, green roofs, a natural storm water system and a power grid.
The Babcock Ranch solar array will be the 4th major solar project that FPL has taken on, as construction has already begun on three other projects in the State of Florida which combined create 110 megawatts.
“Florida is finally becoming the ‘Sunshine State’ for real,” said Earthjustice attorney David Guest. “This is a fabulous Happy Earth Day present for Florida.”
~Wind
That is so cool and again its something I would of never known! Thank you
Hi Helen! Don’t know if you’ve ever been to Babcock, but it is on Corkscrew Rd. in Ft. Myers, I used to take hikes through there back when it was just the preserve! It’s really a beautiful place!
Hi Victoria! I agree! We could all use a little fresh air!
~Wind
Hi Linda! I agree, I almost wanna move there myself, it’s only 3 hours from where I live now!
I agree Barbara! Kitson definitely has the right idea!