The small town of Webberville will be home to the largest solar array panel in the country.

Austin City Council approved a contract with San Fransisco-based Gemini Solar Development Company to produce up to 30 megawatts of solar power over 25 years at $10 million per year, for a total of $250 million.

The 30-megawatt array will be built on City of Austin land and it will power about 5,000 homes a year in the City of Austin.

The panels making up the array will be built by a Chinese company called Sun Tech.

Austin Energy customers will pay for the array.

Each customer will see an increase of roughly 60 cents per month. The company building the solar array could be eligible for about $30 million in stimulus money.

If they get any federal funds they will turn around and give that money back to Austin Energy.

The plant should be up and running by early 2011.