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World’s Largest College-Based Solar Farm Coming to Florida

ecolocalizer.com — Florida Gulf Coast University in Ft. Myers has been singled out by state lawmakers for an $8.5 million allocation to build a 16-acre solar farm on its campus. While the funding still needs a final OK from Gov. Crist, who ’s likely to approve, the money would help FGCU construct what would be the largest university-based solar farm in the world.

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  • sustainablogger, on 05/21/2008, -0/+18Not just a great step forward on solar power, but this would also be a fantastic learning facility for FGSU students... I hope it's approved.
    • nastronomical, on 05/21/2008, -3/+4Learn that solar = total waste of money in comparison to Nuclear?
      • greensky, on 05/21/2008, -1/+1Nuclear is great at producing power, but the long term costs of storing the waste are never take into account. New designs have made nuclear power safer, but the waste it generates will have to be stored for thousands of years.

        Hopefully we can continue to raise the efficiency and lower the cost of solar power.
        • SuperCujo, on 05/22/2008, -0/+3The problem is that the waste isn't reprocessed to get the unused fuel out. Because of the paranoia about nuclear weapons, the peaceniks get their knickers in a knot when nuclear fuel reprocessing is even mentioned.
    • GreatWhiteShaky, on 05/22/2008, -0/+1Well it would make sense that it would be FGCU as apposed to any of the other florida state schools. The school itself is built into a cypress swamp and more than 50% of the campus is still natural cypress swamp; and it has one of the best environmental education programs in the state. Makes me proud to be an FGCU student.
  • ColonelTribune, on 05/21/2008, -1/+12Imagine if every university had one of those things!
    • masahlko, on 05/21/2008, -0/+4I can tell you that UCLA does not have much space to adapt these farms to their campus. But I do agree with your general sentiment.
      • SuperCujo, on 05/22/2008, -0/+2They have unused roof space don't they?
  • casspa, on 05/21/2008, -0/+20Finally Florida is in the news for doing something good and progressive!!! Not just trying to make hanging balls from your pickup truck illegal.
    • jjb123, on 05/21/2008, -0/+1Don't forgot they also recently found Jack Thompson guilty.
  • redcolumbine, on 05/21/2008, -0/+12The Sunshine State lives up to its name!
  • ihazstatus, on 05/21/2008, -0/+2Does anyone know where I can find information on the total and variable costs of solar power compared to coal power? We can't be far from a tipping point in this arena... Wind, Solar, River, etc..
    • JosefH, on 05/21/2008, -1/+1static.flickr.com/84/249272580_65fc508c8c_d.jpg If you can't find it on Google.
    • Super6, on 05/22/2008, -0/+1Home solar takes about 30 years to pay for itself now compared to grid power and most panels start losing efficiency after about 12 years.
      • SuperCujo, on 05/22/2008, -0/+1Depends on if you use monocrystalline or polycrystalline cells.
      • Super6, on 05/22/2008, -0/+1All I know is that the stuff available to the average person costs about $40,000 for every 5,000 w of capability and most people use more than 5,000 w.
    • middlec, on 05/22/2008, -0/+0
      With all the press Photovolatic solar power is getting these days you'd think they were comparable to coal, wind, or nuclear. But sadly they aren't. Bottom line is that PV has to get either 5-10x more power, or get 5-10x cheaper in order for it to even compete with other types of energy production. Governments are subsidizing the price differential, but that's not a long term strategy. So, I don't take those into account.

      PV cells take over 30 years for them to pay for themselves which makes them very poor investments as a businesses. That's why you see energy consumers buying them, but not big energy producers buying them. Now for people who are using energy that makes a big difference because you can pay $12,000.00 for typical residential installation and they pay for themselves in 10 years because you were probably going to be paying $100.00/month in energy or $1200/year. So in 10 years they'll pay for themselves, and they last 20-25 years. So you have rougly 10-15 years to save that money you would've payed the electric company. But, that only makes sense because you're not paying your electric bill which is billed at consumer rates.

      If you were trying to sell energy, not use it, you'd be selling it at wholesale which is far less (~$0.07 / Kwh). Well that means a single solar 315W panel, in a fairly sunny area (~5hr sunlight hours which is roughly how much sun Florida gets on average), is only going to generate around $30.00 / year in energy you can sell. At roughly $1000.00 for each panel it will take many, many years to even pay for itself much less make you any money. It will take longer than the solar cell's life time in order to pay for itself. So you'd be crazy to start a solar farm as a business because there's no return on investment.
  • JosefH, on 05/21/2008, -2/+2It's cool that Solar Power seems to be taking over. I'm hoping cities will start making solar power plants to get our electricity and such.

    --JosefH
  • VaporBrotherBox, on 05/21/2008, -2/+1Can't wait for the day i no longer have to pay the electric companies anything!!!
    • Warptera, on 05/21/2008, -0/+2They still cost money to produce and maintain.
  • LeapDaddy, on 05/21/2008, -0/+1I go to this school heard about the plans months ago. Should lower my housing payments... hopefully.
  • douglasr007, on 05/21/2008, -0/+3Whole state of Florida needs to do this
    • VaporBrotherBox, on 05/21/2008, -0/+0everywhere need's to do this...no?
    • MicroBerto, on 05/22/2008, -0/+1No he meant that we need to cover the entire state of Florida with solar panels and put its citizens on a boat to somewhere far away
  • nastronomical, on 05/21/2008, -0/+1so what happens when it's cloudy or at night? Can it ramp up to meet consumer demand?
    • vdgmr1213, on 05/21/2008, -0/+1Yes, it can. The arrays will absorb much more energy than it can use. Most of the year we will be selling power back to Florida Power and Light. During some months, where the A/C or heat is turned up the most, FGCU will have to buy a small portion of its power from FPL. If need be, power an always be taken off the grid.
  • DickMasterson2, on 05/21/2008, -9/+2Gay people should not be allowed to attend college
  • rickshill, on 05/21/2008, -0/+5I am a Student At FGCU and Know Almost all of the details of this project. If you have any questions about the layout and design, or about the school in general, feel free to contact me.

    rlshilli at eagle.fgcu.edu
    • pirating, on 05/22/2008, -0/+2whoo! I'm transferring to your school this fall and I'm happy to see that this sort of thing is happening there!
  • rickshill, on 05/21/2008, -0/+5The idea is that the school will produce 1.3 times its daily energy need and sell back all of the excess electric to fpl during the day, this will negate the need for a battery system, giving the panels an even better Return on Investment
  • olenick, on 05/21/2008, -0/+2This is great but something is wrong that $8.5MM builds the largest college solar installation anywhere. Seems like a fraction of the funds most state schools waste on administrative overhead.
  • vdgmr1213, on 05/21/2008, -0/+2As a student at FGCU, I've been watching this come to a reality for some time now. Its good to see that as a "green campus" we finally live up to our environmental basics and do something great not only for the environment, but our school as well.
  • higherground, on 05/21/2008, -0/+1With the fact that this will provide 100 percent of the campus’ energy needs, major boost to the school, this will provide a huge educational advantage to the school.
    Florida Gulf Coast University’s installation (16 acres) could mean up to 6,250 kilowatts or 6.25 megawatts compared to the Sarasota solar array which covers only about 0.64 acres and generates about 250 kilowatts of energy. Go FGCU!!!
  • douglasr007, on 05/21/2008, -0/+5I'm surprised a lot of people from FGCU visit digg. **goes to FGCU**
  • scaaven2, on 05/22/2008, -0/+2How did they make a solar farm based on colleges?
  • alenox, on 05/22/2008, -0/+3let's hope a hurricane doesn't destroy it!
  • janvo, on 05/22/2008, -4/+0Is it just me or does anybody else seem to think this is an incredibly stupid place to put such a large solar installation? This is Ft. Myers, the same Ft. Myers that gets hit by tropical storms, including hurricanes about every 3 years. How fragile are solar farms in general? Unless they can withstand flying debris (the outer layer is made of glass is it not?), I would think that this isn't the best candidate.
    • douglasr007, on 05/22/2008, -0/+2The last time a hurricane hit Southwest Florida was in 2006. Before that it was 2004 and before that 1960. Stop eating up the news media on the scare of hurricanes because hurricane activity does go through cycles. Take it from someone who has lived in Florida for about 13 years now.
  • C0MF0RTABLYnumb, on 05/22/2008, -0/+1~What a bunch of Commies. What are they going to think of next?
  • PiKo85, on 05/22/2008, -0/+1I go to FGCU also, I think this is a great idea. It's wonderful to see that the school is living up to it's idea of being green. I'm also surprised at the amount of diggers from FGCU on here.
  • drplump, on 05/22/2008, -0/+1The hurricanes are not as problem over here in Florida because we actually do something when they tell us about them 3 days ahead of time. Thats more than enough time to secure the system from damage.
  • Super6, on 05/22/2008, -1/+1Sure, we're facing a 7% cut to education in the state but, by all means, use tax payer money to buy some solar panels!
  • dj25817, on 05/22/2008, -1/+0Good 'ol government stealing taxpayers money to fund things that should be taken care of by private enterprise
    • SuperCujo, on 05/22/2008, -0/+1If it was left to private enterprise, they would take the cheapest option and spending a little extra on the green option would never get done. Hey, isn't the US one of the highest polluting countries in the world? I think the govt needs to step up and show the way.
      • dj25817, on 05/22/2008, -1/+0private enterprise would listen to the demands of the consumer, if the consumers want the green option then they will supply it, General Motors is making cars that run off of ethanol, they're making hybrids ect to meet market demand, no ones put a gun to their heads they're doing it because it's in the best interest of their company to get ahead of the competition

        Power companies will be looking into alternative options that are viable with the rising prices of fossil fuels and the limited future availability, a practical renewable power source would be a major windfall for power companies, they could make unlimitted profits, if they thought solar was viable they would be all over it by now, and if it's not viable for private enterprise it's certainly going to be a taxpayer moneypit like so many other government programs
  • Cfahooligan, on 05/22/2008, -0/+1The sad thing is, if the government built an array in the dessert 1 mile by 1 mile, it could be enough solar power to power the entire United States. It's all it would take. Places like Australia could do the same and power desalinization plants for fresh water as they are in dire need of fresh water and in talks about recycling their water.
    • dj25817, on 05/22/2008, -1/+1If that was true don't you think a private company would have already done that so they could make billions of dollars for selling free electricity? You can buy desert acreage very cheap and the cost of setting up the array would be recovered in no time. If it was viable that is.

      I'm all for saving the environment but we need to be practical
      • Cfahooligan, on 05/22/2008, -0/+1Well just because it hasn't been done doesn't mean it's not possible. And it would be very practical for the government to do it.They could easily sell and make huge profits.
        • Cfahooligan, on 05/22/2008, -0/+2For the record it would definitely have to be bigger than 1 mile by 1 mile. I was thinking of something I heard ont he discovery channel. But feasibly yes something could be done like this to help out.
        • Nudar, on 05/22/2008, -0/+1Read Popular Science's grand solar plan from several months back for the full details on what it would require.
        • dj25817, on 05/22/2008, -0/+1Government doesn't know how to break even let alone make a profit

          Government just needs to get out of the way and if it's viable a private firm will strike it rich and hire alot of employees and other firms will compete with them and drive down the price of power it will be wonderfull, and we get to keep our tax money! imagine that

          let the free market work
  • hooraybeer, on 05/22/2008, -0/+3another fgcu student here, we should all friend each other
  • stutimandal, on 05/22/2008, -3/+3If monthly electricity bill is $10000 for the university, and if 100% electricity is made solar, then it will take 850 months or 70 years to break even. Will the solar panels last for these many years at zero-maintenance?

    One also has to worry about the rent of 16-acre land's rent, but let's keep it free for simplicity.
    • cdigioia, on 05/22/2008, -0/+2FTA: "... could save the school $22 million in energy costs over the next three decades"

      (22 million/30)/12 = $61,000/month, not $10,000
  • coexed, on 05/22/2008, -0/+1It's nice to see my school doing something like this. I would love to help on this project somehow, at least learn more in a class or something. Maybe work it into the colloquium. Good to see my school living up to its reputation of environmental sciences.
  • Novion76, on 05/22/2008, -0/+3Jealous student from UCF here :P
  • sentinel106, on 05/22/2008, -0/+1I had no idea that there were so many of us Floridians on Digg.
  • AlwaysAwake, on 05/22/2008, -0/+1Follow the money........................
    • dj25817, on 05/22/2008, -0/+1yeah if the government is involved they will tell you it will be built for 8.5 million, but that's probably just the down payment
  • bloggeragent001, on 05/22/2008, -0/+1Good work. I love environment friendly things.
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