The Fight For Solar In Florida Goes On

As rooftop solar costs drop, utility attempts to raise barriers may not work

Mary Ellen Klas, November 12, 2016 (Miami Herald)

“Florida’s utility industry steered more than $20 million of their profits into a failed constitutional amendment to impose new barriers to the expansion of rooftop solar energy generation, but developers say that as the cost of installing solar panels drops, the state could quickly become a leader in private solar energy expansion no matter what the energy giants do…The Florida Solar Energy Industry Association estimates that over the next five years, Florida homeowners, businesses and utilities are projected to take advantage of the falling prices and install 2,315 megawatts of solar electric capacity — 19 times more than the amount of solar installed in the last five years…Large companies, such as Elon Musk’s Solar City, are offering zero down, low-interest loans, and people can also cut their expenses by deducting 30 percent of their costs under a federal Investment Tax Credit program that was extended last year…[S]olar will make up only a tiny fraction of all energy generation supplied by the regulated utilities in the next 10 years…[which helps explain why Florida ranks third in the nation for rooftop solar potential] but is only 14th for cumulative solar capacity that is installed…” click here for more

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