Palm Beach County companies team up to build world's first 'solar city'

April 10, 2009, Palm Beach Post, Palm Beach County companies team up to build world's first 'solar city', by Susan Salisbury.

Syd Kitson is thinking big. Very big.

The businessman's Palm Beach Gardens-based Kitson & Partners announced Thursday that it will team with Florida Power & Light Co. to build a $300 million-plus, 75-megawatt solar plant at the 17,000-acre Babcock Ranch development north of Fort Myers.

How big a deal is it?

"This is the first real solar city in the world," Kitson said in a phone conference from Washington.

Once built, the project will be the largest on-site solar photovoltaic energy facility powering any city on Earth. The city will consume less power than its solar plant will produce.

The technology uses photovoltaic panels, which convert sunlight directly into electricity. It is carbon-free, uses no water, produces no waste and will eliminate the need for 1 million barrels of oil a year.

Eric Silagy, FPL's chief development officer, said the company will be able to break ground "as early as this year" on the facility, pending legislative and regulatory approvals.

The other piece of big news: Silagy estimates the plant's year-long construction will require about 400 jobs, and a commissioned study predicted the deal will start the city on a path to create 20,000 permanent jobs during the next 20 years.

Billed as Southwest Florida's "City of Tomorrow," the 92,000-acre Babcock Ranch is a collaborative effort among Kitson & Partners, the state of Florida, Charlotte and Lee counties, and environmental groups. About 70,000 acres were sold to the state and set aside for preservation.

Discussions with FPL, the nation's largest producer of renewable energy, began eight months ago.

"The smart-grid infrastructure will be built into Babcock Ranch," Kitson said. Commercial buildings will have rooftop solar panels, he said. FPL will provide kiosks in the future city so that electric vehicle owners can recharge their cars.

Babcock Ranch will "be a living laboratory for those companies" interested in developing renewable energy, Kitson said. "Like Palm Beach County planted a seed with Scripps, we are doing that with renewable energy."

The proposed solar facility is also in line with FPL's own aggressive renewable energy initiative.

Not everyone is a fan of the project, with or without solar energy.

"It's absolutely insane," said analyst Jack McCabe of Deerfield Beach-based McCabe Research and Consulting. McCabe, who made his remarks Thursday on CNBC, noted that home values have nose-dived.

And Silagy said the project is not expected to receive any stimulus money, despite a White House push for more alternative energy jobs.

There are other reasons to move forward with the project, said U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, in whose district Babcock Ranch is located.

"It's hard to imagine what the world is going to look like when the fossil fuels run out," Rooney said. "I think Babcock Ranch has given us that first look."

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