Florida Power and Light will build one of its new solar power plants in southern Brevard County.

  • FPL building solar plant in Barefoot Bay
  • Built on old citrus farm
  • Completed by March 2018

Geoff West spent much of his childhood in Barefoot Bay visiting family. Now, years later, he’s working for FPL, heading up a project to make energy much cleaner.

“This upcoming project and a lot of our other solar projects are kind of our demonstration that we aren’t relying on foreign oil anymore. We are finding new ways,” said West, who is FPL development manager.

An old citrus farm in Barefoot Bay, no longer in use, will be harvesting sunlight by March of 2018 as the FPL Barefoot Bay Solay Energy Center.

The 400+ acre plot of land will hold around 330,000 solar panels. Those panels will power close to 15,000 homes. That’s the equivalent of removing around 12,600 cars from the road each year.

It's one of eight new solar plants FPL is building in the state.

“In combination with natural gas, solar enegry really is the perfect solution for cleaner air,” West said.

Not to mention the benefits to the community. The Palm Bay Chamber of Commerce believes this will help bring in new business.

“When you have this kind of infrastructure coming to the area, business just don’t want to leave, because they aren’t going to find something better,” Chamber CEO Nancy Peltonen said.

West says the overall goal is to start more projects like this one. It’s the start of helping to maintain a more healthy environment.

FPL says it will create more than 200 jobs during construction.

The solar plant in Barefoot Bay is estimated to cost more than $100 million. They expect to complete the construction by spring of 2018. 

FPL is building the other seven solar plants in the following locations:

Completed by Dec. 31, 2017:

  • FPL Coral Farms Solar Energy Center, Putnam County
  • Horizon Solar Energy Center, Alachua and Putnam counties
  • Wildflower Solar Energy Center, DeSoto County
  • Indian River Solar Energy Center, Indian River County
Completed by March 1, 2017:
  • Blue Cypress Solar Energy Center, Indian River County
  • Hammock Solar Energy Center, Hendry County
  • Loggerhead Solar Energy Center, St. Lucie county