Largest solar panel plant in U.S. rises in Fla.

ARCADIA, Fla. For nearly a year, construction workers and engineers in this sleepy Florida town of citrus trees and cattle farms have been filling acres of open land with solar panels that will soon power thousands of homes and business.

Today, President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit the nation's largest solar-panel-energy plant when it officially goes online and begins producing power for the electric grid by converting sunlight into energy.

The Desoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center will power a small fraction of Florida Power & Light's 4 million-plus customer base; nevertheless, at 25 megawatts, it will generate nearly twice as much energy as the second-largest photovoltaic facility in the U.S.

As demand grows and more states create mandates requiring a certain percentage of their energy come from renewable sources, the size of the plants is increasing. The Florida facility will soon be eclipsed by larger projects announced in Nevada and California.

"We took a chance at it, and it worked out," said Greg Bove, construction manager at the project set on about 180 acres of land 80 miles southeast of Tampa. "There's a lot of backyard projects, there's a lot of rooftop projects, post offices and stores. Really this is one of the first times where we've taken a technology and upsized it."

Despite its nickname, the Sunshine State hasn't been at the forefront of solar power. Less than 4 percent of Florida's energy has come from renewable sources in recent years.

California, New Jersey and Colorado have led the country in installing photovoltaic systems; now Florida is set to jump closer to the top with the nation's largest plant yet.

The $150 million Desoto facility and two other solar projects that Florida Power & Light is spearheading will generate 110 megawatts of power, cutting greenhouse gas emissions by more than 3.5 million tons. Combined, that's the equivalent of taking 25,000 cars off the road each year, according to figures cited by the company.

Overall, the United States still trails other nations in building photovoltaic plants.

Spain and Germany have made larger per capita commitments to solar power because of aggressive government policies, said Stephen Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. And China has announced plans to pay up to 50 percent of the price of solar power systems of more than 500 megawatts. -- The Associated Press