A commissioning ceremony was held Thursday for the Florida Power & Light Cotton Creek Solar Energy Center in North Escambia.
The first solar energy center of its kind in Escambia County generates up to about 75 megawatts. There are about 270,000 solar panels on the 358 acre site on Bogia Road, in the community of Bogia which is just south of McDavid.
“Today, we’re commissioning a brand new solar facility that powers over 15,000 homes and covers over 350 acres out here in Bogia,” Eric Silagy, FPL chairman and CEO, told NorthEscambia.com at the event. “We are really, really proud that this, one of 50 facilities across the state that are powering FPL homes and businesses.”
For a photo gallery, click here.
“We’re only halfway on our initial goal of 30 million panels by 2030. Solar is great, in many ways because you’re able to generate electricity using the sun and not burning fuel,” he said.
The First City Solar Energy Center, the second FPL solar site to be built in North Escambia, off Holland, Cox and Roach roads in McDavid is in the early stages of the construction process. It will be just over five miles to the north of the Cotton Creek facility. And, as first reported by NorthEscambia.com in February, FPL intends to build a third solar farm in North Escambia on hundreds of acres in Molino.
The Sparkleberry Solar Energy Center is planned for 555 acres south of the end of Pilgrim Trail and should be online by 2024.
“I want the communities where we are located and proud to have us,” Silagy said. “We’re absolutely working to be good neighbors. We can’t do this without community support. We can’t get the permission that we need without the community support, and we live here, we raise our families here like everybody else. We want to be good stewards of the community because we’re here for a long time.”
For a photo gallery, click here.
Pictured top: Eric Silagy, FPL chairman and CEO, during a commissioning ceremony for the Cotton Creek Solar Energy Ceremony in North Escambia on Thursday. Pictured below: A group of brothers from Bogia pose in front of just a few of 270,000 solar panels on the site. Pictured inset: Guests talk as live drone video of the facility plays on a monitor behind them. NorthEscambia.com photos by William Reynolds, click to enlarge.
Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under TOP STORIES
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