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Construction Underway On North Escambia Solar Farm (With Photo Gallery)
August 31, 2021
Gulf Power is now working to install 300,000 solar panels at the Cotton Creek Solar Energy Center in North Escambia.
At about 500 acres, the site on Bogia Road will have the capacity to generate 75 megawatts — enough energy to power 15,000 homes and the emissions-free energy generated is the equivalent to removing 14,000 cars from the road annually.
The development 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.
For a photo gallery, click here.
“With every panel installed, we are ushering in a more sustainable future for Florida by delivering cleaner, lower-cost energy while increasing reliability for our customers,” said Mike Spoor, Gulf Power vice president. “With each solar farm we build, we are driving down costs that will ultimately lead to lower bills for our customers. We are also reducing our carbon footprint and providing cleaner air for our region, ensuring we keep Northwest Florida beautiful for generations to come, while also benefiting the local economy with the contribution of hundreds of thousands of additional tax dollars.”
The project has created about 100 construction jobs, according to Gulf Power, that have attracted local skilled installers and laborers, who get the opportunity to work in the innovative renewable energy industry. Some workers travel to the area to work, providing an economic boost through their purchases of goods and services. Gulf Power said the company has many local hires from counties across Northwest Florida working on the project, and the company is also using local vendors where possible for goods and services.
When the Cotton Creek Solar Energy Center and Blue Springs Solar Energy Center in Jackson County are completed in early 2022, they will join Gulf Power’s Blue Indigo Solar Energy Center in Jackson County in provided solar power. Cotton Creek will be Gulf Power’s first owned and operated solar energy center in Escambia County.
Gulf Power is in the development phase for the First City Solar Energy Center, also in North Escambia. Similar in size and capacity to power another 15,000 homes, First City will be located off Holland, Cox and Roach roads in McDavid.
For a photo gallery, click here.
Pictured: Constructions is underway on the Cotton Creek Solar Energy Center in Bogia. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Comments
18 Responses to “Construction Underway On North Escambia Solar Farm (With Photo Gallery)”
REGARDING:
“They have to clear all the trees from the area to put the panels. We might get cleaner energy, but what about food to eat and air to breathe, without these who needs clean energy!”
We eat few trees.
A mature forest is not a net source of oxygen. The algae in Bluff Springs gravel lakes puts out plenty of oxygen to make up for it.
David for swamp cabbage
REGARDING:
“worked great in Texas this past winter ?”
Might would have. 64% of Texas energy supply was natural gas and coal. Two percent was solar.
98% was definitely NOT solar related, couldn’t've been.
(What they REALLY needed was more nuclear, even though they shut that down too, methinks.)
David for reliability
Solar facilities take lots of farm land out of operation. They have to clear all the trees from the area to put the panels. We might get cleaner energy, but what about food to eat and air to breathe, without these who needs clean energy!
I was off grid and totally solar in Colorado for almost 10 years.. Back up generator for those snow days…There are adjustments to be made for solar living and several years before the system was paid for but it worked well for me…
worked great in Texas this past winter ?
@ Omar
Exactly! Hahahaha
@Bigblock345
If they believe that I have a 3 mile bridge to sell them also.
Only been wrecked once.
GULF POWER should know better .. FOLLOW the MONEY
This is a very positive change regarding clean energy for the world and for consumers. I for one am very excited about this!!!!!
@EP. $300 power bill may go down closer to $200-$220?? Ours averages $390-$400 a month and it was gonna go to $298 per month.. No matter how much power u use , it’s one set price.. Sound good? Not really. Bc if u happen to use less , u still pay same price.. We decided to NOT go solar.. once the guy came and we found out all the details.. It sounded good til we heard the rest of the story. Lol
We seriously considered going solar. Went do far as to have the guy come out to explain everything.. Turns out, it’s not what it’s cracked up to be. I have livestock. And have used electric fences all my like. About 10 yrs ago, we got a solar charger. Paid out the nose for it. But it works great and FREE .. Solar company tried to say they would set us up with the equipment and panels at no cost.. But then we would have a set bill from now on of $298. where is the savings? Oh yeah.. if anything breaks down , YOU are responsible for the repairs.! If that’s the case, then I’d rather have to pay a little for the solar equipment so then the power was free..Like my fence box..!
With decarbonization the wave of the future, this will help lay the foundation for the change to hydrogen-powered plants in 20-30 years.
Anybody that believes this is going to lower your power bill, I have some bad news for you.
Hope it is well secured in the highly unlikely event of bad weather at any time in the future.
so how far out can this service homes from the panel location and also if ones regular power bill was $ 300 dollars a month what could they expect that to change to on this method
“With each solar farm we build, we are driving down costs that will ultimately lead to lower bills for our customers.”"
EREC needs to catch on here. The charge extra to their customers who have solar.
What is the hurricane strength these solar sites can withstand. They should be built to withstand at least a category 4 if not a waste of money and they will ask us to pay for fixing them when they are destroyed.
Yea, I’d like to have some of those in my back yard. 20KW or so capacity would be great to run a/c in the summer.