German Company to Build Florida Solar Array

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — German solar company Sybac Solar has contracted with Gainesville Regional Utilities to build a solar array in Gainesville, slated to be the largest privately owned solar installation in Florida when it is completed.

 

The 8,600-panel, 7-acre installation will generate two megawatts of electricity, enough to power 200 to 300 households. It will cost $8 million to build.

 

Through its solar feed-in tariff program, Gainesville Regional Utilities will pay Sybac Solar 26 cents per kilowatt-hour for electricity funneled in to the power grid. The utility pays for the power generated through a ratepayer subsidy of more than 25 cents per monthly bill. GRU’s feed-in tariff currently has 61 projects generating 3.2 megawatts of power.

 

The project will qualify for a 30 percent federal tax credit.

 

Sybac also plans to build an education center in front of the solar field along Sixth Street to show potential customers and investors how the technology works.

 

The company is nearing completion on steel tables that angle the solar panels but a shortage of solar panels will delay the project until mid-January. The project is slated for a mid-February completion.

 

Sybac operates a subsidiary based in Lakeland, Fla., and is in talks to build at least two other solar installations in Gainesville.