Syd Kitson is an ex-NFL guard for the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys. He's also a real estate developer and the hopeful, optimistic developer of Babcock Ranch, the first almost entirely solar-powered town in the country.
Kitson has been planning the development of this southwest Florida community for more than a decade. In 2006, he purchased the Babcock Preserve from the Babcock family and almost immediately sold 73,000 acres -- 80 percent of the land -- back to the state to retain its nature preservation status. For the remaining 20 percent of the land, he hatched an ambitious plan.
“It’s going to be a thriving community, with several thousand people living here,” Kitson says of his vision for the town, located just outside Fort Myers. “I want to be driving down the road [one day] in an autonomous vehicle and see people walking, riding bikes, eating at our farm-to-table restaurant, running businesses, kids walking to school.”
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8 comments:
DPL will fight it to the death. So will most other utility conpanies in the US. China is so far ahead of us with solar.
A shining example of how capitalism works in a free society. I hope he is successful.
The solar field powering the town is in partnership with the local FL power company. The power goes first to Babcock ranch, then off to the report of their customers. All customers have seen a decrease
in costs since the plant went live.
Actually you are incorrect...the power from the solar field goes to FPL... no homes in the state of Florida are allowed to be off the grid period. I have been to Babcock ranch and it’s nothing more than an overpriced land scam. There is nothing special about it.
I live in south Florida about seven months per year. 1:05 is correct; no homes in Florida are allowed to be served by non-regulated utilities such as Babcock.
Babcock Ranch would be really interesting if it was the real deal. In actuality it is just another so called town....its not even on par with ocean pines were we lived before moving to FL 5 years ago. Between fees/taxes your looking at between 5-700 a month before a mortgage...it’s a great story...sadly just a story..
This is 8:53. I said Babcock ranch is working with the local power company. I even went on to say how the cost for the rest of the power company's customers has gone down. I have NO idea where you think I said they are off the grid.
https://www.babcockranch.com/about-us/solar/
How It Works
During the day – since electric power always flows from the nearest source of generation- the electricity generated at the Babcock Ranch Solar Energy Center flows to the FPL substation located next to our water and wastewater utility, and then to the town. Any energy generated by the solar plant that is not meeting demand at Babcock Ranch, continues to flow to the grid to serve other FPL customers. When the sun goes down and the solar plant is not generating, the battery storage kicks in to supply uninterrupted power.
Yet we here in the DELMARVA are talking/preparing for Wind Turbines that won't do anything for us! Wind is not constant like solar!
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