Solar Panels

Close up of ground-based solar panels on a field. (Courtesy Gulf Power)

Florida utility company Gulf Power announced on Thursday plans to work with the U.S. Navy and Air Force to build three major utility-scale solar power farms at military facilities across the Florida Panhandle. The new facilities would generate up to 120 megawatts of renewable electricity, enough to power 18,000 homes.

Plans for the new facilities have been submitted for approval to the Florida Public Service Commission and the facilities could be in service by the end of 2016, according to a news release from Gulf Power.

If approved, the plans call for a 30-megawatt facility at Eglin Air Force Base in Fort Walton Beach, a 40-megawatt installation at Holley Field in Navarre and a 50-megawatt facility at Pensacola's Saufley Field. Holley and Saufley Fields are Navy air fields. The facilities will be developed by HelioSage Energy, with construction scheduled to begin in February 2016, pending FPSC approval.

According to Renewable Energy Magazine, once completed, the farms will be the largest solar power facilities in Florida and among the largest east of the Mississippi.

"This is an important collaboration between Gulf Power, the Navy and the Air Force," Stan Connally, Gulf Power president and CEO, said in the news releasae. "As military installations seek solutions to promote renewable energy generation, we have worked alongside our military customers to help provide cost-effective solutions — and all our customers will reap the benefit."

Capt. Keith Hoskins, commanding officer of Naval Air Station Pensacola, said the project is part of the Secretary of the Navy's strategy for renewable energy and provides an opportunity to assist local and state industry partners in understanding the Department of the Navy's overall strategy and commitment to renewable energy.

"This project will provide a potential benefit to the U.S. Navy in providing energy security during outages to allow seamless operation of our critical assets," Hoskins said.

As an intermittent energy resource, the solar farms will not replace Gulf Power's existing generation plants, but will have the capability to provide energy that will diversify the power supply and provide a cost-effective alternative during peak energy usage.

"This project helps meet the (Department of Defense) goal of 25 percent renewables by 2025 and the Air Force's energy goal of 1 gigawatt of on-site capacity by 2016," said Air Force Brig. Gen. David Harris, 96th Test Wing commander.

All branches of the military have been actively working to generate more electricity from renewable sources. Last year, officials at Huntsville's Redstone Arsenal announced plans to construct a 10-14 megawatt solar farm there, which would be Alabama's largest. Officials there said the development of solar energy was critical for "mission effectiveness," and that the 2011 tornadoes in the area showed the danger of dependence on the grid.

Gulf Power is owned by Southern Company, the same entity that operates Alabama Power, Georgia Power and others. Though all three are sister companies, solar energy development in Alabama has lagged behind those two states.