DeFUNIAK SPRINGS In a narrow Tuesday vote, Walton County commissioners turned back a Gulf Power proposal to build a solar energy generation facility on almost 900 acres in the northern part of the county.
Commissioners voted 3-2 against an application for a development order for the project, planned for 868 acres between and around Harrison Road and Brown Road, three miles east of U.S. Highway 331 at State Road 2A.
The Chautauqua Solar Energy Center was planned as a 74.5-megawatt generation facility, which kept it under the 75-megawatt generation capacity that would have subjected it to the state licensing process under the Power Plant Siting Act. A megawatt of electricity is enough to power the average family home for a little more than a month.