Solar Community in Florida

Calling itself the nation’s first planned development to be powered exclusively by solar, Babcock Ranch, located north of Ft. Myers on Florida’s Gulf Coast, hosted its first permanent residents last month in preparation for its official grand opening in March. The new community, which features various residential neighborhoods being built around a town center and business district, projects that at least 500 people will call it home by the end of 2018.

The developers indicated that they are planning for as many as 50,000 residents in the future. The town is powered by 343,000 solar panels constructed outside the community by Florida Power & Light Company (FPL). All homes in the development will be designed in comportment with green and sustainable building standards, which extends to energyefficient appliances and building materials as well as buried power lines.

Interestingly, however, the homes will not have on-premises solar panels themselves. Instead, all residents will pay FPL for the electricity they use, as would any regular electric customer. The difference for residents of Babcock Ranch is that their electricity supply will come from FPL’s solar array located outside of town.