Lakeland Florida to Build 18,000 Panel Solar Farm

There's a new farm coming to Lakeland, Florida Linder Regional Airport, but don't expect cows or horses.

A new facility that Lakeland Electric officials call a solar farm will be built at the west end of the runway on Hamilton Road and will generate enough electricity to serve 2,000 homes.

It will be the biggest solar farm at an airport in the country, Lakeland Electric officials said.

The city utility will make an announcement about the new 45-acre solar farm at 2 p.m. on Wednesday at the Sun e_SSRqn Fun Fly-In.

Jeff Curry, alternative energy coordinator for Lakeland Electric, said Monday that the utility and Maryland-based SunEdison plan to install 18,000 solar panels at the airport by 2012.

The panels will generate 5½ megawatts of power. A megawatt equals one million watts of power.

The city already has installed solar panels on top of The Lakeland Center.

Those panels cover the size of about an acre.

At its peak, the solar facility will produce enough electricity to power 2,000 homes.

The type of solar collectors at the airport will be non-reflective or what Curry called photovoltaic.

Curry said pilots won't be bothered by reflecting lights.

"It's designed to absorb the sunlight," Curry said.

Each morning, the panels will move in an eastern direction toward the sun. The panels will continue to move through the day to absorb as much sunlight as possible.

Lakeland Electric buys electricity from SunEdison and Lakeland Electric receives renewable energy credits. Curry said those credits can be used in the event there is ever a state carbon compliance requirement.

Curry said it's likely that requirement will occur in the coming years. Already, 36 states have carbon compliance requirements.

A spokesman from Sun-Edison did not return a phone message.

Lakeland Mayor Gow Fields said the city has become more energy efficient.

"While our partnership with SunEdison is the latest green effort from Lakeland Electric, as a municipal government we have been installing more energy-efficient lights in our buildings, gone to LED traffic signals and converted to more energy efficient heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems in our larger facilities," Fields said.

This is the first solar farm at an airport in Florida.

Other solar farms at airports are in Fresno, Calif., Oakland and Denver, Curry said.

SOURCE: http://www.theledger.com/article/20110328/NEWS/110329472/1410?p=1&tc=pg