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McDavid Solar Energy Site Now Producing Enough Power For 15,000 Homes
February 2, 2022
The 300,000 solar panels at the Cotton Creek Solar Energy Center in McDavid are now producing enough electricity to power up to 15,000 homes.
At about 500 acres, the site has the capacity to generate 75 megawatts. The solar center is in an area north of West Bogia Road between South Pine Barren Road and Highway 29, just west of Ray’s Chapel Baptist Church.
According to Florida Power & Light, the facility has been generating electricity since December 31. It is one of eight new solar energy centers put into service recently across the state.
“This important milestone for FPL is the product of our dedication to delivering cost-effective clean and reliable energy to our customers across the Sunshine State,” said Eric Silagy, president and CEO of FPL. “This time last year, we had 33 solar energy centers in operation. To now reach 50 solar energy centers is proof of our tireless pursuit of a cleaner energy future for today and future generations.”
Construction is underway on the First City Solar Energy Center, also in North Escambia. Similar in size and capacity to power another 15,000 homes, First City is located off Holland, Cox and Roach roads in McDavid.
The FPL new solar energy centers recently placed into service across Florida are:
- FPL Cotton Creek (Escambia County)
- FPL Blue Springs (Jackson County)
- FPL Ghost Orchid (Hendry County)
- FPL Sawgrass (Hendry County)
- FPL Elder Branch (Manatee County)
- FPL Sundew (St. Lucie County)
- FPL Immokalee (Collier County)
- FPL Grove (Indian River County)
Together, the eight new solar energy centers are capable of generating 596 MW of quiet, emissions-free energy. That’s enough to power 120,000 homes annually and reduces carbon emissions equivalent to taking 112,000 cars off the road each year.
The eight new solar energy centers add approximately 2 million panels to FPL’s portfolio. Recently, FPL announced it is now expecting to complete its goal of installing 30 million solar panels across Florida five years early – by the end of 2025.
Pictured: The Cotton Creek Solar Energy Center in North Escambia. Photo by Jeff Amerson for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Comments
41 Responses to “McDavid Solar Energy Site Now Producing Enough Power For 15,000 Homes”
Yeah, let’s cut down all the trees to “save the planet” with clean energy. If you were really about helping, you would’ve just installed them on your customers houses without roping them into a 20 year loan on the panels. All these businesses care about is making the extra $$
wow, we’re creating power from the sun? well, that’s just horrible. grumble grumble grumble.
REGARDING:
“I’d guess there weren’t many humans available to blame that on !”
You catch a man setting a house on fire.
His response is, “There were fires long before there were men, therefore I didn’t do it.”
One has nothing to do with the other.
@ David Huie Green
wasn’t Texas & several other States underwater a few millennia ago ?
I’d guess there weren’t many humans available to blame that on !
REGARDING:
“Rise in ambient temperature, 3-4 degrees is just an estimate.”
Actually, it was measurements taken. It might be higher or lower elsewhere, but that was the measurements where taken.
“Reasons to have solar farms:…FPL profits, we pay more”
Most solar installations are unrelated to FPL.
“To produce these panels uses all of the existing fossil based energy available today and will still require its use to repair/replace in years to come.”
Any energy source can be used to make photovoltaic panels. And yes, repairs are needed. “A study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory conclusively demonstrates that the manufacturing energy cost versus the energy production payback for solar modules is generally less than 4 years.” They estimate lifespan at 30 years, so break even by year five beginning, 26 years of no pollutants.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. This, anything can be ugly if you insist. The idea is that climate change might otherwise submerge much of Florida.
We shall see.
Reasons against solar farms:
Deforestation, depletion of plant life that changes harmful CO2 into life giving O2.
Loss of environmental balance, yes, from tree frogs to honey bees to so many other vital animals, insects, varmints and bird life. Somebody’s gonna think I’m a tree hugger. Try realist! Lol!
Rise in ambient temperature, 3-4 degrees is just an estimate. And the environmentalists still decry global warming, well here you go!
Excessive mining of heavy metals used in the construction of solar panels. This is mainly done in foreign countries that are not adherent to environmental or health concerns.
Elitists corporations profiting by use of low paid, and sometimes slave and child labor to mine the heavy metals.
To produce these panels uses all of the existing fossil based energy available today and will still require its use to repair/replace in years to come.
Can you say eyesore? The solar farms make our earth look like we are applying computer chips to it from above. Perhaps changing reality to a virtual AI eventually. So much today seems so unreal and false anyway, why not?!!
Carbon neutral is a lie.
Reasons to have solar farms:
FPL profits, we pay more.
chirp……………………chirp………..
REGARDING:
“Remember last year’s ice storm in Texas? Wait for this one! They are all about renewables, were without power for days! No sun, the windmills were froze and couldn’t produce!”
87 percent of the outages were caused by fossil fuel failure, not renewables.
That only leaves 13 percent to blame on wind and solar. I remember somebody put out pictures of iced up wind turbines from years ago and pretended it was in Texas when it wasn’t.
https://www.khou.com/ from Houston reports:
“Investigators determined that most of the power outages could have been avoided if power plants and wind turbines had been better protected against the cold and ice.
“According to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s report, protecting just four types of power plant components from icing and freezing could have reduced outages by 67 percent
“The report found fuel issues related to natural gas were the cause of 87-percent of the unplanned power outages, pushing back on claims that wind and solar were primarily to blame.”
dhg again:
Proper nuclear would have handled it all. Sometimes even that fails because the cooling water freezes. The solution would be to use the discharge to melt the intake but it seems that isn’t always set up.
Studies show Solar Farms are more effective and efficient than residential solar. Additionally, owners of residential solar contribute less to maintain the electric grid that they still benefit from each and every night, and during power outages. This means that those of us who do not have solar panels pay more to ensure these solar panel owners have the benefit of reliable electricity every night and during hurricanes.
They need to pass a county ordiance that ever new house must have solor panels (enough to support the house) during the day.
don’t start complaining about the price of the house.
Reasons against solar farms:
Deforestation, depletion of plant life that changes harmful CO2 into life giving O2.
Loss of environmental balance, yes, from tree frogs to honey bees to so many other vital animals, insects, varmints and bird life. Somebody’s gonna think I’m a tree hugger. Try realist! Lol!
Rise in ambient temperature, 3-4 degrees is just an estimate. And the environmentalists still decry global warming, well here you go!
Excessive mining of heavy metals used in the construction of solar panels. This is mainly done in foreign countries that are not adherent to environmental or health concerns.
Elitists corporations profiting by use of low paid, and sometimes slave and child labor to mine the heavy metals.
To produce these panels uses all of the existing fossil based energy available today and will still require its use to repair/replace in years to come.
Can you say eyesore? The solar farms make our earth look like we are applying computer chips to it from above. Perhaps changing reality to a virtual AI eventually. So much today seems so unreal and false anyway, why not?!!
Carbon neutral is a lie.
Reasons to have solar farms:
FPL profits.
chirp……………………chirp………..
Remember last year’s ice storm in Texas? Wait for this one! They are all about renewables, were without power for days! No sun, the windmills were froze and couldn’t produce! Go green!!! Better have a back up plan!
Glad I’m on EREC!
Cry cry cry!!! I agree with ol skinny, quit buying any and all paper products if you want to cry about trees being cut down. I saw someone commented about not seeing any grass,, There is plenty of grass out there on the cotton creek jobsite and we are working hard everyday to get the whole site covered with grass. “Unsure” wrote about the “giant path” that cuts through the property, well that was already there from the power lines that run through the site. We didn’t make that. Somebody wrote something about this could have been great farmland,, you could not be more incorrect. This land is honestly horrible, it would have been a huge mistake for someone to try and farm it. We’ve built this site and are building others to try and make a difference in this world and make things that don’t harm the earth as much in the future. What are you doing??? Sitting on your couch complaining on the internet. Gee great job, keep it up!!!! As far as the cost of power bills, quit using all electricity!!! If you don’t like it then do something about it. Don’t use these folks power anymore and then they will not get your money. Whatever you do just please stop crying all the time loll.
REGARDING:
“panel’s should be cooler than daytime . That’s a no duh huh ?”
True. Still warmer than woods at night.
I’m not worried, just answering the question asked.
Solar is a start. We need to stop so much reliance on oil and gas. Those are finite resources and we are both foolish and irresponsible if we don’t find more renewable energy sources.
@ David huie green
Well, @ night the panel’s should be cooler than daytime . That’s a no duh huh ?
Oh my aching behind ….
How many of you ATTENDED a meeting to voice your concerns, WROTE a Congressman, STARTED a petition?
Seems like most of you don’t have anyone to talk to so you jump on these forums (like Facebook) so you can show NWF just how little you know. I couldn’t give 2 hoots in hades about these solar panels. Several of you get on here all the time venting about land use. If you don’t like what these private companies are doing with THEIR land then buy it all up so no one else can do anything with it. You can go out to YOUR forest everyday and count the trees and wild flowers, and if you can get all of your other friends here on this forum to buy up the land then maybe when you start running out of baby diapers, paper towels, fem care products, Amazon boxes, food grade boxes and Lord knows what other products, you might decide to stop hugging your trees and sell a few every once in awhile….
REGARDING:
“Nuclear power has proven to be an extremely expensive technology”
Not all that bad compared to fossil fuels, but higher than solar. On the flip side, it is extremely reliable day and night throughout the year and for years. It has few real emissions unless somebody isn’t doing his job properly and even then usually.
Newer designs should be even safer than past designs which were basically intended for use in submarines and then expanded. The major problems have been with designs unlike the most common in the usa and Western Europe.
AND
“with serious health and environmental concerns.’
Concerns do not equate to problems, just mean we are concerned, usually that there is something we have not accounted for.
AND
“Nuclear facilities have regular releases of low-level radiation,”
Which is not unexpected since everything has low-level radioactivity including you and me.
AND
“There is no safe way to store nuclear wastes”
Actually, there is.
They can be stored in glass and endure for thousands of years inside the glass. They can be stored miles underground in played out oil and gas fields. They can be stored inside salt domes.
The more reasonable solution, though, is to separate the most radioactive which will be back to background levels in a couple of hundred years and/or use it up in nuclear reactors for additional fuel. There are designs which can use the existing “waste” for fuel for about another thousand years without any more mining being done.
REGARDING:
“does the ambient temperature increase near the farms”
From https://www.nature.com/articles/srep35070
“temperatures over a PV plant were regularly 3–4 °C warmer than wildlands at night”
(Multiply by 1.8 to get the temperature rise in Fahrenheit, 5.4 degrees F to 7.2 degrees F warmer around such an installation, dhg)
“who pays to repair thousands of solar units?”
We do; we pay whatever it takes for them to stay solvent, as set by the state government.
Just another excuse to raise rates, because they aren’t doing anything to bring the price down for customers. Supposedly, changing to natural gas and implementing solar farms is supposed to make energy cheaper, more efficient and environmentally friendly, but I’m not seeing any benefits for the people forced to use these natural monopolies. The only ones that seem to benefit are the shareholders board members.
@y’all come on
Cooling water is usually filtered River water or in more and more cases reclaimed wastewater. Where do you think that heavy metals and chlorine come from? Chlorine and heat (released during the heat transfer) is highly corrosive to piping. So what your saying about that isn’t true. The Florida Dept of Environmental Protection monitors water quality discharge back to the environment. The heavy metals come from untreated coal ash runoff water. But that is treated as well before discharge. And where does your figures of a billion gallons a day come from. I’ve worked in the water filtration/purification industry for over 22 yrs since I retired from the Navy in 1999. Worked everything from pharmaceutical water for injection to ultra pure water for I tel micro chip manufacturing to currently industrial at power plant (boiler feed and cooling) refineries, paper mills and chemical plants.
I wouldn’t be surprised a bit if the power produced by this farm is not even used in this area.
And none with solar panels power bills monthly average.
Explain that FLP!
Illinois: $94.98
Wisconsin: $97.09
Minnesota: $103.34
Michigan: $103.59
Iowa: $109.27
Ohio: $114.80
Indiana: $123.39
Missouri: $126.79
But FLP has investors wanting a return..Desantis!
Take a ride down Cox Rd from 29 all the way to Bratt Rd and see first hand how much forest they strip bare for these eye sore solar farms!! It’s happening now folks, everyday!! Makes me sick to my stomach!!
Destroying the environment in order to save the environment. Makes perfect sense.
How much did this cost me (taxes, increased rates, etc.)?
How much did this save me?
We were told that solar panels and hydrogen power plants would save us money.
Why are we paying more for energy?
The proof is in the pudding.
500 acres of good farmland gone to waste. What a waste. They cut down the vegetation and trees to install these solar panels. Trees shade the earth and help cool the earth. Trees absorb carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen we breathe. The solar panels will take your money forever. The Public, (Power) Service Commission should be abolished. They do not support the people of Florida. We now have Florida Power & Light. We haven’t seen anything yet. Waiting for the next Power increase. They tell us the power bills will go down in the next 5 years. Yeah Right !
Solar energy in some limited applications is effective, as is wind, but in large scale energy production it is nothing but a SCAM to rob taxpayers perpetrated by our Federal government and an environmental detriment to boot!
@ y’all come on :
My slightly aged brain is telling me something about the original plan for buying all that land ( near the river ) was to build nuclear plants. Get the water from river for cooling etc . Have no problem with solar & wind but their only supplemental cause gain/loss from day/night.
We are already paying for it..hot your power bill yet?
That includes all the millions of new solar panels they refer to..that is why there is a law suit coming.
No buy back either on extra power given off your solor panels to them.
CROOKS
My power bill hasn’t went down, it has only went up, so this solar plant is absolutely meaningless. More virtue signaling and pocketing money by the current authorities in place.
I encourage those below with questions to simply research solar power. I bet you will be surprised at how much better these are than our current power plants!
Nuclear power has proven to be an extremely expensive technology with serious health and environmental concerns. Nuclear facilities have regular releases of low-level radiation, which is believed by some experts to cause significant health problems. There is no safe way to store nuclear wastes, which can remain dangerous for thousands of years.
Power plants burn fossil fuels. Coal-fired plants, even with the most modern technology using low-sulfur coal, are the single most significant source of acid rain, which has left hundreds of lakes across New York and New England unable to sustain life. Acid rain is also causing profound changes in forest ecology. Power plants emit mercury, a neurotoxin that is now found in all our waterways, as well as millions of tons of carbon dioxide, the most significant greenhouse gas and contributor to global climate change. These plants also emit arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, and nickel..
Power plants use water for cooling – up to a billion gallons each day! As this water is discharged back to the river, thermal (heat) pollution occurs. This plume of warmer water can create ice-free pockets in winter, which can attract and then trap many species when the flow slows or stops. In summer, the hot water can add to eutrophication (oxygen-deficiency) in the river, choking fish and aquatic life. Heavy metals and chlorine in cooling water discharges are also having a negative effect on river life.
But, sure…they had to cut some trees for the solar panels….y’all come on!
AT WHAT COST?
WHO PAID FOR THE LAND?
WHO PAID FOR THE LABOR?
WHO PAID FOR THAT MANY SOLAR PANELS?
NOW WHO WILL GET TO BILL THE CUSTOMERS FOR THE GAIN?
@ swampfox Who do you think is going to pay, THE CUSTOMERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“Wow! Not a blade of grass showing. I wonder what they are using to keep that down?”
Amazing to think you expect to see “a blade of grass” from 1500 feet. In January. There are wildflowers planted around them. There was another story on NorthEscambia about that
Wow! Not a blade of grass showing. I wonder what they are using to keep that down? Solar farms are about as UN-Friendly to the environment as you can get.
Number One DISTORY ALL OF NATURE IN THE SITE.
Number Two: Continue to destroy anything living that might interfere with the site.
Number Three: Raise the rates on the customers.
The best place for solar is on top of something we already covered up like over parking lots or buildings.
AT WHAT COST /// PER KILOWATT HOUR ? ??
At what point in time does the two lines cross? The rate of degradation and the price of replacement. Will the result be something that the power consumers can afford?
Swampfox, pretty sure if those panels are damaged FPI will use that as yet another excuse to up our rates just as they did to build this farm.
Like swampfox I have questions too. Is solar energy consistent? That is, what is the output during a week of dark cloudy overcast days. If not consistent, then the power they generate could only
be supplemental to existing power generators.
I’m not quite sure of the benefit here when you can clearly see all
of the trees that were removed for this site to be placed here.
Also note in the picture ,see the giant path that cuts thru
the site and comes out on Bogia road? It’s basically a giant water
she’d that sends all the water into the roadway which then drains down the hill
in the roadway making it very dangerous. The road is already paying
the price.
Solar & wind produced electricity sure sounds good when the sun is shining and wind blowing etc. a couple questions with solar is does the ambient temperature increase near the farms and do hurricanes damage them and if so who pays to repair thousands of solar units?