SMALL TOWN, BIG SUN

Solar PV Leads Small Town into Solar Big Leagues; Gainesville Expects 7 MW Solar PV by Year End Florida Town Rivals California in Per Capita Solar
Paul Gipe, November 19, 2011 (Wind-Works)

"After only three years of development, a small town in Florida has moved into the ranks of the solar big leagues worldwide…The municipal utility serving Gainesville, Florida expects that by year end 2011 the town will have installed 7.3 MW of solar photovoltaic (solar PV) systems.

"The university town was one of the first in the US to implement a feed-in tariff for solar PV after a previous program using grants, tax credits, and net metering had failed to install any significant number of systems…Gainesville Regional Utilities [GRU] serves a population of 200,000 people…so [its] feed-in tariff program has resulted in the installation of 0.036 kW per person. This is equivalent to that in California which has had various programs for solar PV in place since the early 2000s."

(from Paul Gipe, Wind-Works.org - click to enlarge)

"However, Gainesville will have to increase its installation rate 20 times to catch up with the German state of Bavaria, which is the region with the world's highest concentration of solar PV of 0.60 kW per person. Puglia Italy is not far behind Bavaria with 0.49 kW per person.

"…In 2011, [GRU] estimates solar PV will have generated nearly 10 million kWh…The Gainesville feed-in tariff program has been modified annually since its introduction to reflect the falling costs of solar PV and to more equitably distribute installations across all ratepayer classes…More than one-third of the installed capacity has been installed on rooftops in projects less than 100 kW…"