Solar energy continues to boom in the Sunshine State, as a near-record number of people installed solar panels this year. That comes in spite of opposition from many electric utilities.
A new study says nearly 30,000 Floridians installed solar panels this year, bringing the total number of installations to more than a quarter million.
Sean Gallagher, a senior vice president at the Solar Energy Industries Association, credits the rebound to clean energy tax incentives that were passed by Congress a couple of years ago. This comes despite pushback from electric providers like Florida Power and Light against net metering, which allows excess energy to be sold back to the power companies.
“FPL has made several runs at getting rid of net metering, and in fact, Gov. DeSantis had to veto a bill a couple years ago that would have changed net metering very badly," Gallagher said, "and the governor recognized that customers ought to be able to have the choice to do what they want to with their own energy systems on their own homes."
He said public acceptance of solar panels has increased recently. And that has only gone up with the power outages experienced by many people after our recent hurricanes.
Gallagher said Florida is predicted to take over as the top-ranked residential solar state by 2028. He said this comes despite a backlash from many electric utilities, which see solar as competition to their monopolies.
"Orlando utility commission in the last couple of weeks reduced the compensation to customers who want to go solar. That's going to create a negative impression for customers and make it harder for them to make ends meet if they do go solar," he said. "And we certainly don't want to see that kind of activity that Orlando just took extended at the state level."
The study says through the first three quarters of 2024, Florida has installed a second-in-the-nation 3.1 gigawatts of solar capacity, nearly matching the state record-setting 3.2 gigawatts installed in the state in 2023.
Florida is also home to one of the five new or expanded solar manufacturing factories that came online in Q3, bringing total U.S. solar module manufacturing capacity to nearly 40.
The U.S. added a record-breaking 9.3 gigawatts of new solar module manufacturing capacity in Q3 2024.
"Since Congress passed the bill in 2022, there's really been a renaissance of American solar manufacturing," Gallagher said. "We're taking jobs back from China. We're producing those solar panels at home now, and we've seen capacity to produce solar panels expand by four or fivefold in just in the last two years, so we can meet almost all of the demand for solar panel for installation of solar panels in the U.S. with homemade solar panels now."
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