BABCOCK RANCH, Fla. – The neighborhood of the long run passed a serious test on September 28 with the arrival of Hurricane Ian. Developers purchased the open land in 2006 and hired teams of engineers to create “storm safety, resilient by design,” based on their website.
Residents are actually believers after Hurricane Ian gusted over 150 mph and dropped feet of rain on the community. Those that rode out the powerful storm never lost power. The story was very different for over 13 million of their Florida neighbors, a few of whom are still at the hours of darkness.
How did the facility stay on?
“In Babcock Ranch, we even have transmission lines running from the solar array on to a substation here,” Jennifer Languell, engineer and consultant for Babcock Ranch explained. “Florida Power and Light has already hardened that infrastructure.”
FP&L, the utility company partnered with developers and together built and operate the 870-acre solar farm. Lines run underground through the community so wind, falling trees and blowing debris won’t ever take down power lines.
The hardened infrastructure Languell said, are large concrete poles connecting the ranch to the remainder of state. Even when there isn’t a sun to charge the panels, the ranch has electricity.
“At night, we’re fed by a natural gas plant, so Florida Power and Light again feeds us from a special direction within the evenings,” Languell explained. “Or if for some reason the solar array isn’t generating what we’d like. In order that builds partly of the resilience, having multiple sources where we’re getting our energy from.”
In March 2018, the Babcock Ranch Solar Energy Center was the biggest solar-plus-storage project operating within the U.S., based on the corporate’s website.
“We call ourselves a living laboratory. And so we’re testing several types of batteries,” she said. “The technology is evolving in a short time on batteries, and we are going to proceed to check after which grow our storage capabilities.”
What makes the town storm resilient?
In 2017 residents began moving into the community which is eighteen,000 acres of residential, industrial and retail space. Planners put aside one other 73,000 acres for a preserve. They chose the positioning 30 miles inland and about 30 feet above sea level to maximise protection from the wrath of Florida’s weather.
The town lies about 15 miles east of downtown Fort Myers.
Languell said that because the community is comparatively recent, homes and infrastructure were and are being built to recent constructing codes. Lessons learned after deadly hurricanes like Andrew and Wilma beefed up wind resistance.
Data on the news release says homes are protected to a Category 3 hurricane. Ian was Category 4.
The massive preserve and using native plants also reduce storm runoff and flooding. Native plants evolved with Florida’s tropical weather and are less at risk of the acute conditions.
The ranch has its own self-contained water and wastewater management system.
Languell says she can be working with the state to harden older neighborhoods.
“I’m already working with the Department of Economic Opportunity on the Irma rebuilds and the Michael rebuilds, that are two previous storms,” she said. “And we’re constructing those to fulfill Florida green constructing codes and certification standards, which takes constructing code and bumps it up slightly bit.”
Languell has won awards for her work in sustainable buildings, land management and land development worldwide.
BABCOCK RANCH, Fla. – The neighborhood of the long run passed a serious test on September 28 with the arrival of Hurricane Ian. Developers purchased the open land in 2006 and hired teams of engineers to create “storm safety, resilient by design,” based on their website.
Residents are actually believers after Hurricane Ian gusted over 150 mph and dropped feet of rain on the community. Those that rode out the powerful storm never lost power. The story was very different for over 13 million of their Florida neighbors, a few of whom are still at the hours of darkness.
How did the facility stay on?
“In Babcock Ranch, we even have transmission lines running from the solar array on to a substation here,” Jennifer Languell, engineer and consultant for Babcock Ranch explained. “Florida Power and Light has already hardened that infrastructure.”
FP&L, the utility company partnered with developers and together built and operate the 870-acre solar farm. Lines run underground through the community so wind, falling trees and blowing debris won’t ever take down power lines.
The hardened infrastructure Languell said, are large concrete poles connecting the ranch to the remainder of state. Even when there isn’t a sun to charge the panels, the ranch has electricity.
“At night, we’re fed by a natural gas plant, so Florida Power and Light again feeds us from a special direction within the evenings,” Languell explained. “Or if for some reason the solar array isn’t generating what we’d like. In order that builds partly of the resilience, having multiple sources where we’re getting our energy from.”
In March 2018, the Babcock Ranch Solar Energy Center was the biggest solar-plus-storage project operating within the U.S., based on the corporate’s website.
“We call ourselves a living laboratory. And so we’re testing several types of batteries,” she said. “The technology is evolving in a short time on batteries, and we are going to proceed to check after which grow our storage capabilities.”
What makes the town storm resilient?
In 2017 residents began moving into the community which is eighteen,000 acres of residential, industrial and retail space. Planners put aside one other 73,000 acres for a preserve. They chose the positioning 30 miles inland and about 30 feet above sea level to maximise protection from the wrath of Florida’s weather.
The town lies about 15 miles east of downtown Fort Myers.
Languell said that because the community is comparatively recent, homes and infrastructure were and are being built to recent constructing codes. Lessons learned after deadly hurricanes like Andrew and Wilma beefed up wind resistance.
Data on the news release says homes are protected to a Category 3 hurricane. Ian was Category 4.
The massive preserve and using native plants also reduce storm runoff and flooding. Native plants evolved with Florida’s tropical weather and are less at risk of the acute conditions.
The ranch has its own self-contained water and wastewater management system.
Languell says she can be working with the state to harden older neighborhoods.
“I’m already working with the Department of Economic Opportunity on the Irma rebuilds and the Michael rebuilds, that are two previous storms,” she said. “And we’re constructing those to fulfill Florida green constructing codes and certification standards, which takes constructing code and bumps it up slightly bit.”
Languell has won awards for her work in sustainable buildings, land management and land development worldwide.
