FPL is putting the finishing touches on two solar energy farms, one in Putnam County and the other straddling Alachua and Putnam.

Ikea opened its Jacksonville store with a 251,206-sq.-ft. rooftop solar array that the company says is the largest in Florida.

JEA, the utility serving Jacksonville, committed to a major expansion of its solar-generation capability. The utility is building five 50-megawatt solar plants, which will bring its total solar capacity to 300 megawatts in the next two years. That will provide about one-tenth of JEA’s electricity needs on a peak day and 25% to 30% of its needs on a temperate fall day, when there is less demand, says Steve McInall, director of electric resource planning.

McInall says lower costs for producing solar power make it the right time to expand.

“The price is the same as it costs to burn coal and natural gas,” he says. “At that point it really changes the dynamics.”

Based on data from the Environment America Research & Policy Center, Jacksonville will be generating more power from solar than any U.S. city by 2020, McInall says.

JEA will spend up to $50 million to build the solar plants.

“These solar initiatives reflect a direct response to customer demand and a broader shift to renewable energy resources,” says JEA Chief Executive Paul McElroy.

Business Briefs

FLAGLER COUNTY — Kamara, a natural stone company, is opening a distribution center for stone imported from the Republic of Georgia and may develop a manufacturing facility at the site. County officials approved $15,000 in performance-based incentives for Kamara.

GAINESVILLE — Private equity firm TPG Capital is buying Exactech, which makes orthopedic implant devices and surgical instruments, for $625 million. The fi rm’s headquarters remains in Gainesville.

HIGH SPRINGS — Blue Springs State Park opened to the public as Florida’s 175th state park. Blue Springs had been a private park, but the Department of Environmental Protection bought the property for $5.2 million, funded by Florida Forever.

JACKSONVILLE – Stein Mart cut 48 jobs, or 10% of its corporate staff amid sales declines. Four federal judges ordered the Wilner Firm and Farah & Farah to forfeit $9.2 million in fees after finding the two law firms filed tobacco-related claims without authorization from the plaintiffs. Of 3,700 claims filed in a 2008 case, 1,250 were “frivolous,” the judges found. JaxPort says container traffic through its seaport rose 7% in fiscal 2017 to more than 1 million 20-foot equivalent container units. The growth was fueled by traffic from Asia.

Johnson & Johnson Vision Care continues to expand beyond its contact lens business. After buying ophthalmic products company Abbott Medical Optics in February, the company bought Sightbox, a subscription vision care services company, and TearScience, which makes products to treat dry eyes. Sports merchandising company Fanatics acquired collegiate licensing firm Fermata Partners from CAA Sports and formed a new division called Fanatics College to focus on collegiate merchandising. Terms of the deal were not announced. ValueOptions is laying off 115 workers after losing a contract to support Tricare, the health care program for uniformed U. S. service members.

Brazilian aerospace company Embraer received orders for six more A-29 Super Tucano aircraft, which it builds at Jacksonville International Airport. The order brings the total number of A-29s in the program to 26.

PNC Bank established a regional headquarters in Jacksonville.

LAKE CITY — Sitel, a call-center operator, is cutting 178 jobs.

LEVY COUNTY — The Public Service Commission approved a settlement with Duke Energy that eliminates fees paid by Duke customers for the company’s abandoned nuclear plant in Levy County.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH — The St. Johns County Commission approved $2.8 million in incentives for the PGA Tour to build a 210,000-sq.-ft. headquarters and add 300 jobs. The new building will consolidate the rest of the golf tour’s 800 employees from 17 offices in the region.

PUTNAM COUNTY — Seminole Electric is building a gas-fired generating plant and will remove one of two coalfired plants at the site when the new plant is completed in 2022.

James Foote
James Foote joined CSX as COO. His appointment coincided with the departure of three executive vice presidents, Cindy Sanborn, Fredrik Eliasson and Ellen Fitzsimmons, who predated new CEO Hunter Harrison. Foote is a 40-year railroad industry executive who worked with Harrison at Canadian National.

John Paul Sáenz was promoted to executive vice president and COO of Haskell. Sáenz has worked for the Jacksonville-based architecture, engineering and construction firm since 1997.

Innovation
Cancer-Fighting Spice?

Kenneth Laali, a synthetic organic chemist at the University of North Florida, is studying ways to use curcumin, a chemical found in spices used in Indian and Chinese dishes, to fight cancer.

“We change the molecular structure of the compound,” he says.

Laali says he has created about 70 compounds, which he has sent to the National Cancer Institute for testing, and he’s also testing them with researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville.

The research is promising, but a long way from fruition, he says. “These are only initial steps in a drug discovery process.

 

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