Although the sun made only occasional appearances last week, its usual omnipresence in Florida was one of the underlying factors that brought a consortium of European businesspeople to St. Petersburg. Their purpose: to explore the possibility of investing in a solar farm and accompanying solar panel factory in Pinellas County.
Although the project would be expensive (like all energy startups), advocates say the price of solar is going down dramatically while the price of other forms of energy is inevitably going to rise. And if a group of German and Austrian executives experienced in such activities is considering such a major investment in North America, well, why not St.Pete?
The genesis of last week's events goes back two years, when Jeff Adams, vice president of the Tampa-based construction company Griffin Contracting, learned about European interest in a solar farm in either Canada, New Jersey or Florida. Flash forward to this past winter, when Griffin met with St. Pete-based marketing consultant Mario Farias.
Farias' company has worked on other green energy projects in Pinellas, such as PACE energy retrofit and property improvement programs. He says that after doing some due diligence on the solar farm idea, he bought in totally to the concept, and paved the way for the three-day visit of the consortium.
Speaking to CL from his car just before the Europeans came to town, Farias was on maximum overdrive, exclaiming that in addition to the 260 direct jobs that would come if a solar field were built in St. Pete, an additional two or three indirect jobs would result from those specific positions. "So potentially just the initial stage could employ 1,000 people," he gushed, referring to plumbers, roofers and electricians and others who could be needed in the production of such a plant.
Whether or not that number is remotely accurate, the idea that Pinellas County could host more energy efficient/renewable energy businesses is an attractive one, even more so in this dire economy. That's why nobody was more energized to roll out the proverbial red carpet than the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce.
Local lawmakers were also brought in for discussions. County Commissioner Ken Welch says, "I'm excited about the prospects of anything that we can do on clean energy." However, as he and other officials contacted for this story acknowledge, a lot of details — such as financing and environmental concerns — need to be worked out.
So what is a solar farm?
A large piece of land on which panels are built that absorb energy, which can then be dispersed from a single power plant to thousands of homes. A potential site being floated for such a farm is the Toytown section of St. Pete, but that has yet to be confirmed (the area has been mentioned in connection with a number of potential developments, leading one local official involved in the talks last week to question its viability).
In addition to the solar farm, the group wants to set up a manufacturing plant in Midtown to build the solar panels. The Sierra Club's Cathy Harrelson, who has been working with Farias, calls the plant the "real meat" of the proposal since it would create more jobs in that economically depressed area.
Solar farms don't have a lot of history in Florida. Most notable is the DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center in Arcadia, a 25-megawatt facility run by Florida Power & Light. That was paid for with millions from the federal stimulus plan, which led to President Obama visiting the facility in the fall of 2009.
Also in 2009, a 16-acre solar farm was built on the campus of Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers. Last fall a 15-megawatt solar farm opened up in Jacksonville. And earlier this year Lakeland Electric announced that they would be working with SunEdison, a Maryland-based company, to install 18,000 solar panels at a 45-acre solar farm to be built at Lakeland Linder Regional Airport.
Why not more? Well, such plants aren't cheap — and the Florida Legislature hasn't been as forthcoming with incentives for private investors as other states. For instance, New Jersey hs approved financial incentives that allow individuals and businesses to recover the full cost of installing rooftop solar panels over five years.
Last year the Florida Legislature failed to renew a property tax exemption for homeowners who installed solar PV or solar thermal water heating in their homes.
Also, a program that offered residents a $4-a-watt rebate, capped at $20,000 for homes that installed home solar power systems and $100,000 for businesses, ran out of money in late 2009, and no new funding has been extended toward it.
Florida is also behind many other states in not having a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), which would require public utilities to produce a certain percentage of renewable energy sources by a certain year (a Bradenton-based group is attempting to put a constitutional amendment on the 2012 ballot requiring this).
