What's been called the "largest solar farm in the region” is coming to Lakeland near Florida Polytechnic University, as city commissioners approved the 1,400-acre facility on Monday.
Williams Acquisitions Holding Company requested permission to develop on the property, which is within the city's Innovation District, south of University Boulevard and east of State Road 33.
It’s on what was once a phosphate mining site, so Lakeland commissioners agreed that a solar farm would be the best use of the land.
“This … takes kind of the least usable land in the entire area, making it the most productive land that can possibly be, and it does so in a footprint for a solar farm that is not highly visible,” said Lakeland Mayor Bill Mutz.
“So all of those elements really work well together so that you can we can have the benefit created for future renewable energy for the state of Florida. While we are, at the same time, also allowing Williams to use the property for something that is tough to use well, otherwise, and is ideal for wetlands or soft area.”
Initially, Commissioner Sara Roberts McCarley questioned the environmental impacts from developing on the green space, but at Monday's meeting, she said this is the “best use of this property right now.”
"I'm excited about the project, as well, I think it'll be very beneficial to all of our Lakeland Electric customers and to the property at large out around Poly," she said.
Comments from city officials and the proposal from Williams both indicate that the solar panels are expected to contribute energy to Lakeland Electric's grid.
Commissioner Stephanie Madden said the city staff, as well as representatives of both Williams Company and Florida Polytechnic University, “sat at the table” to discuss the logistics.
And she pointed out that the Williams Company controls 30% of natural gas pipelines across the country.
“They're a really big company in the energy space, so to be getting into Lakeland, Florida, and having a green energy piece and play here in Lakeland with their solar farm is really exciting,” Madden said.
Seth Black spoke to commissioners on behalf of the Williams company.
"Natural gas is going to be here for a long time, but to kind of offset this with solar and combine these forces together... that's where we kind of get the long-term sustainability factor here," he said.
“Williams has been around for 100 years, and we plan to be around for much longer. We view this as a strategic partnership to provide long term sustainable power generation to this area for a long time coming.”
