Florida is the Sunshine State.
It says so right here in the brochure. So it’s no surprise that Eglin Air Force Base is negotiating to let Gulf Power build a solar energy generation facility — basically, a solar energy farm — on 240 acres of base property near Northwest Florida Regional Airport.
The solar farm would produce electricity from the sun’s rays and help Eglin meet the Defense Department’s requirement that 25 percent of the military’s energy come from renewable sources by 2025. That’s just 10 years from now.
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Renewable sources are the kind that keep producing electricity but don’t run dry or run out. Think wind and sunshine.
Eglin officials also cite what they call security concerns.
“The Air Force is very interested in energy security,” Jack Kiger, Eglin’s energy manager, told the Daily News’ Kelly Humphrey last week. “The solar farm will help provide an alternative in case one of the other power plants should go down, or if the price of other energy sources should increase significantly.”
So, with enough renewable sources online, an energy crisis shouldn’t cripple the military. Makes sense.
It makes so much sense that Gulf Power is also negotiating to lease Navy property for solar farms in Santa Rosa and Escambia counties. The facilities could be up and running by December 2016.
Renewables hold great promise. We reported in September that Burlington, Vt. (population: 42,000), gets ALL of its electricity from such sources. Officials in Greensburg, Kan., rebuilt their town after a tornado, put in a wind farm and realized the wind generates more electricity than the town can consume.
The only surprise in all of this is that the concept of abundant solar power wasn’t embraced by the masses on the Emerald Coast years ago. After all, this is the Sunshine State.
