A year ago, officials in St. Petersburg talked excitedly — if a bit stealthily — about the possibility of a German-based consortium coming to St. Pete to build a solar energy farm and equipment factory.
One of the principals of that group, Uwe Sterling, returned to the Bay area on Friday to talk about the formidable odds that still stand in the way of such a project opening up anytime soon. Sterling spoke at an event publicizing a planned medical facility to be built at the corner of Central Avenue and 20th Street; solar panels on its roofs of the building and an adjacent parking lot will provide enough electricity to power the building.
Sterling, who has ties to the region and visits the area twice a year, wants to build a solar power farm in St. Pete. But the startup costs are formidable (he says around $30 million), which makes it much harder for investors to commit to such a facility in Florida vs. North Carolina or New Jersey, two states that offer much more friendly incentives for solar manufacturers.
Florida's rebate program to help stimulate demand for clean energy expired two years ago, and there hasn't been any major push by legislators in Tallahassee to reinstate it.
This article appears in May 10-16, 2012.