Sun and suds

To quench the thirst of a fast-growing population, beer distributor J.J. Taylor Cos. is building a warehouse and distribution facility that will be the size of three football fields.

But the building will be noteworthy for something other than the 7.5 million cases of beer J.J. Taylor will be distributing across South Florida from the new building in Fort Myers.

To chill all that beer, the company has contracted with Solar Energy Management of Tampa to build the largest solar rooftop array of its kind in Florida. “What Florida has is big roofs,” says Scott McIntyre, the CEO of Solar Energy Management who is working with Edwards Construction of Ocala to build the distribution center.