Florida Power & Light plans to build a massive solar power generation center on the former Minute Maid Grove in St. Lucie County that will provide enough energy for 15,000 houses.
FPL expects to start construction on the 74.5-megawatt photovoltaic solar center in November and finish by the end of 2020, said Scott Skole, the senior project manager.
More than 3,000 mounted solar panels and related transmission facilities will be built on the southern half of the 1,080-acre grove between Florida’s Turnpike and the Indian River County line, Skole said.
FPL’s proposed Pelican Solar Energy Center will be linked to utility’s Indian River Solar Center, which is about 2 1/2 miles south of Oslo Road, by a 2-mile-long run of transmission lines, Skole said.
“All but 500 feet of transmission will be on FPL property,” Skole told the St. Lucie County Planning and Zoning Commission on June 20. FPL is negotiating with the owner of a 500-foot-wide strip of land between the two solar projects for an easement for the transmission lines, Skole said. The lines will also traverse the St. John Improvement District’s drainage canal.
There will be at least 143 feet of space between the property line and the nearest solar panel, Skole said. The northern half of the grove is being reserved for a future solar project, Skole said. FPL already operates two solar panel fields in St. Lucie County.
The Interstate Solar Energy Center opened along Interstate 95 north of Orange Avenue in January. The Loggerhead Solar Energy Center opened west of Rangeline Road, north of the Martin County line, in March 2018.
“We are actively looking at more properties in St. Lucie County,” Skole said. “We like it here.”
FPL paid Evans Properties Inc. of Vero Beach, $7,189,700 for the grove on May 10, county property records show. Evans Properties paid $3.94 million for it on Oct. 1, 1985.
The Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously to recommend the county commissioners approve the project and allow construction around the clock.
The upcoming County Commission meetings are on July 2 and July 16.
