Solar boom: Polk County among Florida's hotbeds for utility-scale solar power plants

Paul Nutcher, Lakeland Ledger
·5 min read
A solar farm under construction on the north side of Waverly Road near Scenic Highway. It extends across Scenic Highway to the east. Polk County is among the state's hotbeds for new solar power facilities as utility companies gobble up formerly agricultural land.
A solar farm under construction on the north side of Waverly Road near Scenic Highway. It extends across Scenic Highway to the east. Polk County is among the state's hotbeds for new solar power facilities as utility companies gobble up formerly agricultural land.

Every year, a land conference in Florida is hosted by Lakeland-based commercial real estate broker Dean Saunders for updates on the various land-use trends and tabulations of large land transactions in Polk County and across Florida.

And for nearly the past 10 years, the conference has shown astronomical growth in one type of land sale: large agricultural tracts sold for solar power generation.

Today, those sales equate to at least a dozen new utility-scale solar power facilities in Polk County either underway or already built.

“Solar power has been a high point of interest for many Florida investors. Decreasing cost of solar panels and the availability of financial incentives for solar power installations are driving interest,” said Saunders in the SVN Saunders, Ralston and Dantzler commercial real estate market report presented in February 2023.

By 2022 in Florida, the real estate brokerage firm had tracked 38,395 gross acres of transitional sales aimed at solar-powered developments.

Saunders said that was a 146% increase from the previous year's sales that totaled 15,612 gross acres. In other notable sales, he noted:

  • The largest valued transaction was $89.7 million for 9,755 gross acres ($9,195 per gross acre) in DeSoto, Highlands, Indian River, Palm Beach and St. Lucie Counties.

  • In DeSoto County, $36.4 million was paid for 3,896 gross acres ($9,356 per acre).

  • In Charlotte County, 6,298 gross acres sold for $32.1 million ($5,099 per acre) in Charlotte County.

TECO's Solar Energy Center on State Road 60 in Mulberry.
TECO's Solar Energy Center on State Road 60 in Mulberry.

In the past decade alone, solar has experienced an average annual growth rate of 33%, Saunders said, citing data from Wood Makenzie and SEIA released in 2023.

The growth in solar “has been fueled by federal policies like the Solar Investment Tax Credit, rapidly declining costs and increasing demand across the private and public sectors for clean electricity,” he said.

There are now more than 135 gigawatts of solar capacity installed nationwide, enough to power 23 million homes.

Polk County is a hotbed for solar

In Polk County, county staff have also seen a boom in solar projects. According to John Bodhe, director of the land development division for Polk County, by June 2023 “Polk County has approved five solar generation sites for TECO within the unincorporated area." Those include:

  • Magnolia Solar – 5050 State Road 60 E., Mulberry.

  • Bonnie Mine Solar – Bonnie Mine Road (between SR 60 and CR 640).

  • Payne Creek Solar – 5473 Fort Green Road, Mulberry.

  • Durrance Solar – SR 37, Bradley Junction area.

  • Alafia Solar – Chicora area, 4500 Bethlehem Road, Mulberry.

  • Jamison Solar Facility - Old Highway 37 (Agricola Mine Road), between Rolling Hills and Bradley Junction.

Cities are also getting solar power plants.

TECO has two facilities within the city limits of Bartow: Lake Hancock Solar on U.S. 98 and Peace Creek Solar on State Road 60. Lakeland Electric has as many as five solar power facilities and recently approved a 1,400-acre solar farm near Florida Polytechnic University.

Duke Energy Project Manager Shayna White and Environmental Specialist Tommy Oneal walk on floating solar panels covering two acres of its 1,200 acre cooling pond at the Hines Energy Complex in Bartow.
Duke Energy Project Manager Shayna White and Environmental Specialist Tommy Oneal walk on floating solar panels covering two acres of its 1,200 acre cooling pond at the Hines Energy Complex in Bartow.

Within Polk County, Duke Energy has also been building solar power plants.

  • A floating solar facility at Duke Energy’s Hines Facility, Bartow, CR 555.

  • Tide Bay Solar, Fort Meade (west side).

  • Mabel Lake Solar, Lake Wales/Dundee, Waverly Road.

In its December report, the trade group Solar Energy Industries Association said, “The US solar industry installed 6.5 gigawatts-direct current of capacity in Q3 2023, a 35% year-over-year increase as federal clean energy policies begin to take hold.”

Further, the United States is expected to add a record 33 gigawatts of solar capacity in 2024, according to the U.S. Solar Market Insight Q4 2023 report released Dec. 7 by SEIA and Wood Mackenzie, an association press release said.

TECO's Solar Energy Center on State Road 60 in Mulberry.
TECO's Solar Energy Center on State Road 60 in Mulberry.

“While economic challenges are beginning to affect the solar and storage industry, by 2050 solar is expected to be the largest source of generating capacity on the U.S. Grid,” the release said.

'What is the tradeoff?'

In response to a reporter's questions on solar land sales, a spokesperson for Saunders said that while Saunders is a key player in the sales of large tracts of land to electric utility companies, including Florida Power and Light, the spike in projects for utility scale solar power plants could have consequences for industries committed to using the land for other purposes. 

While still in preparations for the 2024 report, Saunders said the data for tracked FPL sales in 2023 as of October were 9,126 acres for $101,440,900 (or about $11,116 per acre on average). These sales in Florida include sites in Columbia, DeSoto, Indian River and Martin counties.

“We haven’t yet identified solar purchases by other groups,” Saunders said.

Further, Saunders does not think that “third-party finger pointing at FPL” is productive, a spokesperson said.

A new solar farm being built on the north side of Waverly Road near Scenic Highway. It extends across Scenic Highway to the east.
A new solar farm being built on the north side of Waverly Road near Scenic Highway. It extends across Scenic Highway to the east.

“Dean (Saunders) is not offended by solar power. We have solar panels on top of our building,” the spokesperson said.

“FPL is fulfilling a need and is being incentivized to do it through the federal and state governments,” the spokesperson said. “They are a leader in solar power but the amount of power desired from solar is chewing up land. He has sold plenty of land to power companies throughout his career but feels it’s appropriate to start a conversation on the tradeoff of converting agricultural land into solar.

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“What would the land be used for if it wasn’t solar? Food/fiber, conservation, wildlife, recreation, or development. What’s the economic impact of solar vs. these other uses? What is the tradeoff? Is this what we want?”

The spokesperson added, “How much power is generated from 1 acre of solar land? Why don’t we see solar being installed on large commercial buildings?”

The 2024 conference

The 2024 Lay of the Land Florida Land Conference is set for Bonnet Springs Park on Feb. 29, when the latest trends in large land sales will be presented. The conference will expand this year to Thomasville, Georgia, for the first time.

Typical attendees are landowners, policymakers, investors and other industry affiliates who want to keep up on the most current data about the Florida and Georgia land markets, a press release said.

Paul Nutcher can be reached at pnutcher@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Polk is seeing a massive expansion of solar activity by utilities