In 2010, when the solar industry took off in the United States, Justin Vandenbroeck joined a small business as a solar panel installer, a entry-level position.
“You don’t have to have a college degree to install solar cells, work in a craft, or become an electrician,” said Vandenbroeck, who was 21 at the time and was an engineering student at Florida State University in Tallahassee. “So I started and progressed from $ 10 an hour to owning a business.”
Now ESA Executive Vice President Solar Vandenbroeck has said he is worried that a law passed by state law last week could stop the solar industry in Sunshine State.
“This legislation does not represent economic freedom, which is a big part of the governor’s agenda,” Vandenbroeck said, adding: “If the Ukrainian-Russian crisis has taught us anything about energy, it is that we need more home-grown electricity,” our industry when we produce electricity in the state of Florida. ”The solar industry, he said, is urging the governor to veto this legislation.
The bill, which was generally considered anti-roofing solar because it would drastically reduce financial incentives to install solar panels, flew over the Republican-controlled Senate and House of Florida, and was backed by some Democratic lawmakers. Legislation is now awaiting a decision by Governor Ron DeSantis to veto or sign it.
Legislation sponsored by State Senator Jennifer Bradley and rep. Lawrence McClure, both Republicans, aims to revise the state’s 2008 net metering policy, which allows homeowners with rooftop solar panels to swap the excess energy they generate for one-on-one credit. on their electricity bills. The bill would lower payment rates for solar customers and, among other things, allow utility companies to charge them fixed costs and minimum monthly subscriptions.
Florida Power Gadget & amp; Light backed the legislation and, according to an investigation by the Institute for Energy and Policy, a monitoring group, donated tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to Bradley and McClure.
Florida Power & amp; Light did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Questions sent to the offices of Bradley and McClure have not been answered until the publication of this article. But in presenting the bill before the Senate committee on Jan. 11, Bradley said the goal of the 2008 net metering policy was to accelerate the growth of solar energy on rooftops by subsidizing housing customers. But the solar industry, she said, is now mature, and the price of solar panels has dropped significantly. “The conditions that existed when the full retail net metering was created don’t exist today,” so subsidies are no longer needed, Bradley said.
She called the net metering policy “regressive” and said it benefits well-to-do solar customers at the expense of lower-income non-solar customers. Bradley added that the bill would ensure that rooftop solar customers pay the full cost of services, eliminating subsidies that increase electricity bills for non-solar payers.
If the legislation becomes law, homeowners and businesses that have already invested in solar energy on rooftops would maintain the current payout rate of 20 years. Potential solar customers would have 18 months to install solar energy on the roof before reduced payout rates begin.
Legislation would make it much less attractive for Floridans to invest in solar energy on rooftops due to significantly reduced financial returns on their investment.
In Florida, more than 100,000 homeowners have installed solar energy on their roofs – owners of solar-powered homes account for about 1 percent of all electricity customers in the country – and are currently paid almost as much to provide surplus energy to the grid as utilities. charge their customers. Some customers are producing enough energy to cut their electricity bills to almost zero, helping low- to middle-income consumers repay the loans most homeowners rely on to finance the initial cost of installing solar energy on the roof, industry experts say.
Vandenbroeck, who is also president of the Florida Solar Energy Industry Association, said the legislation would have a catastrophic impact on clean energy jobs, small businesses and the solar industry as a whole. “I didn’t expect such a serious proposal,” he said.
Industry and solar advocates say the legislation runs counter to the Biden administration’s plan to invest in clean energy infrastructure to address systemic inequalities and environmental injustices over the past decades. Biden’s $ 1.75 trillion stagnation The Build Back Better Act promises about $ 550 billion over 10 years for climate and clean energy, including incentives for renewables such as solar, wind and geothermal energy.
“The solar industry in Florida has about 500 solar companies and the vast majority are small businesses,” Vandenbroeck said. “It employs about 9,000 direct workers and supports another 31,000 indirect jobs, which are the backbone of the solar industry’s infrastructure.”
He said net metering has allowed many people and businesses to stabilize and control their electricity costs while saving some money each month.
Ben Miller, chief executive of Sun Harvest Energy, a residential solar company, said it takes an average of 11 to 14 years for customers to repay loans to install rooftop solar systems according to the current net metering. “This legislation would probably add another five to eight years to the existing repayment period, which would mean somewhere between 19 and 22 years,” he said. Miller added that customers who saved, say, $ 40 a month on their electricity bill would likely save only $ 10 when a pay change began.
Heaven Campbell, program director of Solar United Neighbors in Florida, a national nonprofit, said there will be no change in net metering rules until January 1, 2024.
She noted that the bill was moving through the legislative committees at an alarming rate, with no significant changes to save the industry.
This is obviously a very high priority for the biggest impact on our legislature, Florida Power & amp; Light, ”she said. “And I would like to think that legislators will at some point give value to their constituents before the profits of a monopoly company.” She added that Florida is unusual in that “we are a solar state and we have some of the smallest laws for solar energy.”
Campbell said more and more people can afford to install solar energy because of a net metering policy that helps them monitor rising electricity bills and get fair credit for locally produced clean energy that they share directly with neighbors. “This legislation is punitive, slams the door on innovation and makes fun of families’ financial planning, ”she said.
In recent weeks, Florida has witnessed anti-law rallies, with hundreds of protesters from across the country – including advocates, home and business owners and industry representatives – flocking to the state capital, Tallahassee.
Joshua Pearce, a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computing at Western University in Ontario, Canada, said any study that was not funded by the public service showed that net metering policy is beneficial for a variety of reasons. His research and studies by others, he said, have shown that the average solar house owner actually subsidizes the network.
Pearce noted that utility companies make money by investing in electricity infrastructure, and when homeowners install solar power generation and distribution systems, they invest instead in the utility company. “So they’re investing in electricity infrastructure that benefits the grid and their neighbors,” Pearce said. “But in this way, utility companies don’t make money and so there is a conflict of interest.”
Pearce said replacing coal with solar cells could save 52,000 U.S. lives a year. “Undoubtedly, an integrated solar grid system will produce electricity with a lower carbon content than what we get in any of the U.S. grids,” he said. “It’s good for the environment and good for long-term climate impacts.”
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This is not the first time politicians have decided to end the net metering policy in Florida. Two years ago, McClure – sponsoring a version of the House of Representatives bill – sent a letter to the Florida Public Services Commission (PSC) urging them to review the program, saying solar energy on the roof is a threat to low- to middle-income Florida. The Public Services Commission has decided not to act at McClure’s request.
Alissa Schafer, a research and communications expert at the Institute for Energy and Policy, the oversight group, said McClure based his argument on a study conducted by an “accompanying group of utility companies.”
Schafer regretted that the anti-sun law was passed despite public opposition and testimony against the law. “This shows how important the seats in the utilities senate are as strategic investments,” she said, “because senators are the ones who appoint members of the regulatory body that oversees utilities, such as the Public Services Commission and the Public Service Bureau. the world of Florida. “
As of today Florida Power & amp; Light and its parent company, NextEra, have spent more than $ 3 million on political contributions for the 2022 election cycle, the largest of the country’s four regulated utilities, Florida Power & amp; According to the Institute for Energy and Politics, Light is known to have provided millions of dollars to lobby and fund campaigns for both Republican and Democratic candidates.
Ben Miller, CEO of Sun Harvest Energy, said companies supporting anti-sun legislation have been spreading the misconception for years that only wealthy people buy solar energy. “There’s a large percentage of low- to middle-income people who earn less than $ 50,000 a year,” he said. “Less than 1 percent of Florida’s solar consumers are on rooftops and hinting that they are a burden to more than 99 percent of utility customers is not water.”
By making rooftop solar energy unattractive to homeowners and businesses, Miller added, the goal of the legislation is to get rid of competition from the emerging solar industry. Florida should learn from Nevada’s experience, he said, where the state’s decision to end its net metering policy in 2015 has led to thousands of job losses, leaving the solar industry in disarray. In 2017, the Nevada legislature reintroduced a policy of net metering after large job losses over the past two years.
These are high-paying jobs and careers, and businesses that could fail if the law is passed, Miller said. “Solar energy is one of the fastest growing industries and is creating jobs in South Florida, with an economic impact of about $ 18.3 billion,” he added.
Meanwhile, Vandenbroeck and other industry representatives are working with Florida lawmakers in hopes of making them aware of the costs the solar industry will pay if the legislation is passed.
“We have spoken in good faith to the bill proponent and committee members to try to find a solution that is fair, protects workers and allows for further economic growth,” he said. “We share how wages in the solar industry are significantly higher than the average minimum wage in Florida. These are commercial jobs and careers that can grow into long-term careers. That’s a big highlight. “
Vandenbroeck said the solar industry as part of the construction sector continued to work on the sites despite the pandemic. “We continued to build projects and invest money in the pockets of our workers. We hope that the state will not turn its back on us.
Freelancer
Aman Azhar is a freelance journalist based in Washington, DC who covers environmental justice for Inside Climate News. Prior to that, he worked as a television journalist and multimedia producer for BBC World Service, VOA News and other international news organizations, reported from London, Islamabad, the United Arab Emirates and New York. Read also : Solar turbines san diego jobs. He holds a bachelor’s degree in media anthropology from the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and a master’s degree in political science from Punjab University and is a recipient of a UK Chevening Fellowship and an academic. Australian Government Postgraduate Fellowship.
Is solar a pyramid scheme?
– The owner of DC Solar, a Benicia-based company, was convicted today of a billion-dollar Ponzi scheme – the largest criminal fraud scheme in the history of the Eastern District of California, said Acting U.S. Attorney General Phillip A. Talbert.
Do solar panels ever pay for themselves? Solar panels pay off over time, saving you money on your electricity bills and, in some cases, making money with constant incentive payments. The time to return a solar panel is on average 5 to 15 years in the United States, depending on where you live.
Is solar energy still a good investment?
Not only is solar energy good for the environment, but you can make money by selling excess energy to the grid. Although costs have fallen in recent years, installing and maintaining solar panels can be quite expensive. Solar panels are best suited for homes that are sufficiently exposed to the sun throughout the year.
Is solar a better investment than stocks?
While stocks may have a higher return potential over the 30-year life of the solar system, market volatility also increases the risk of loss. On the other hand, bonds and certificates of deposit (CDs) are low risk (similar to solar) but have a low return on investment over time.
Are solar panels a good investment in 2021?
In general, solar cells are worth 2021. Despite the problems in the supply chain, the cost of solar energy is almost always the lowest, and the federal tax credit for solar energy is still valid until the end of 2022.
Did Jeff Carpoff get sentenced?
On November 9, 2021, Jeff Carpoff was sentenced to 30 years in prison and sentenced to pay $ 790.6 million in damages for conspiracy to wire fraud and money laundering.
Why did DC Solar get raided?
The FBI investigated the company in December 2018 over allegations of a company-related Ponzi scheme, and the company later filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11.
Is DC Solar still in business?
Their company DC Solar is now out of work, most of the 100-member workforce is unemployed.
What happened with DC Solar?
SACRAMENTO, California – The owner of DC Solar, a Benicia-based company, was convicted today of the billion-dollar Ponzi scheme – the largest criminal fraud scheme in the history of the Eastern District of California, Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.
Are solar panels a waste of money?
If you live in an area with high energy levels and a suitable solar rating, and you can afford an initial investment, it is worth installing solar panels in your home, while a 26% tax credit applies – for the good of the environment and your wallet. However, don’t expect to eliminate your electricity bill overnight.
How long does it take for solar panels to pay for themselves?
Most homeowners in the United States can expect their solar panels to pay for in 9 to 12 years, depending on the country in which they live.
What are the 2 main disadvantages to solar energy?
Weaknesses of solar energy
- Solar does not work at night. …
- Solar panels are not attractive. …
- You cannot install a home solar system yourself. …
- My roof is not suitable for solar. …
- Solar energy harms the environment. …
- Not all solar panels are of good quality.
Are solar panels worth it 2021?
Are solar cells worth 2021? Short answer: yes. Today’s solar roof systems are elegant and can be incorporated into the design of your home, while allowing you to produce your own energy.
What are the 2 main disadvantages of solar energy?
Weaknesses of solar energy
- Costs. The initial cost of purchasing a solar system is quite high. …
- Depending on the weather. Although solar energy can still be collected on cloudy and rainy days, the efficiency of the solar system is declining. …
- Saving solar energy is expensive. …
- It uses a lot of space. …
- Associated with pollution.
What is one of the major drawbacks of solar energy? Reliability. The disadvantage of solar energy is that it relies on the sun, electricity cannot be produced at night, which means you have to store excess energy produced during the day, or connect to an alternative energy source such as a local utility network.
What are 2 pros and 2 cons of solar energy?
| Benefits of solar energy | Weaknesses of solar energy |
|---|---|
| Lower your electricity bill | It does not work for all types of roofs |
| Improve the value of your home | Not ideal if you plan to relocate |
| Reduce your carbon footprint | Buying records can be expensive |
| Combating rising electricity costs | Low electricity costs = less savings |
Is solar energy illegal in Florida?
Solar energy in Florida is perfectly legal and a good investment for your home.
Is Solar Energy Illegal in Florida? The short answer to this question is that solar cells are not illegal in Florida.
Why can’t Florida use solar panels?
In Florida, you are legally authorized to connect all the solar cells you have installed to the local grid, which means you are never really free. To make matters worse, during a power outage, even if your system can maintain an entire home and family, you can’t rely on it. You must turn off the system and generators.
Is Florida a good state for solar?
Florida is becoming known for its excellent solar incentives and programs that are considered one of the best in the country. Learn more about why solar cells are such a great investment in Florida.
Why solar panels are not popular in Florida?
Solar energy in Florida is rising as the cost of solar systems using photovoltaics (PV) has fallen in recent years. Florida has low electricity costs compared to other states, making individual investments in solar energy less attractive.
Is Florida a right to solar state?
Florida has strict laws when it comes to using solar panels. The state government prohibits anyone, including homeowners ’associations, from banning anyone who wants to install solar panels or other renewable energy devices in their possession.
Is Florida a net metering state?
Net metering has been available in Florida nationwide since 2008. Since then, Florida has recorded a more than 10,000 percent increase in the number of connections in renewable energy systems. These strong, consumer-friendly policies have been the foundation for countless Florida people to decide to make a change.
Is Florida a good state for solar power?
Sunshine State is the perfect place to sunbathe and you can reduce your dependence on the network. Electricity is still charged by your utility company, but your bill will be significantly reduced due to domestic solar energy.
Is it legal to install your own solar panels in Florida?
For advocates of all things renewable, including getting our energy from the sun, it might come as a surprise to find that running your home on solar panels in the U.S. state of Florida is actually illegal.
Who can install solar panels in Florida?
Who can install a photovoltaic system under the Florida Solar Discount Program? According to the Florida Energy Office, the system must be installed by: “a state-licensed chief electrician, electricity contractor, or solar contractor.” (As listed in FS 377,806, section 2 (a) (1) (2008)).
Can you buy solar panels and install them yourself?
No. Finally, you can end up paying more money and wasting a lot of time if you try to install solar panels yourself. Leave it to the experts instead. To get solar cells for your home in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, contact KC Green Energy for a free consultation.
Can you install your own solar system in Florida?
Installing solar panels involves the use of electrical wiring that is not safe to work with unless you are an experienced electrician. In addition, many states, including Florida, require homeowners to hire authorized technicians to install solar panels.
Does solar make sense in Florida?
Sunshine State is the perfect place to sunbathe and you can reduce your dependence on the network. Electricity is still charged by your utility company, but your bill will be significantly reduced due to domestic solar energy.
Is Florida a good country for solar energy? Florida is becoming known for its excellent solar incentives and programs that are considered one of the best in the country. Learn more about why solar cells are such a great investment in Florida.
Why can’t Florida use solar panels?
In Florida, you are legally authorized to connect all the solar cells you have installed to the local grid, which means you are never really free. To make matters worse, during a power outage, even if your system can maintain an entire home and family, you can’t rely on it. You must turn off the system and generators.
Why solar panels are not popular in Florida?
Solar energy in Florida is rising as the cost of solar systems using photovoltaics (PV) has fallen in recent years. Florida has low electricity costs compared to other states, making individual investments in solar energy less attractive.
Does solar increase home value in Florida?
While the solar premium for the state of Florida is 4%, in Orlando, Florida it increases to 4.6%. In New York, the solar premium is 1.8% higher than nationwide, which means $ 23,989 more in value for a typical New York home.
Is it worth the investment to add solar panels to your house in Florida?
Overall, solar energy in Florida is worth it. Generous electricity purchase rates, a Florida sales tax exemption, a property tax exemption and a federal solar tax refund all together provide an attractive solar energy payback period of an average of 11 years, making Florida solar energy worthwhile.
Do solar panels increase property taxes in Florida?
Buy and install new Florida solar collectors in 2022, with or without battery storage, and qualify for a 26 percent federal solar credit. The ITC for housing falls to 22% in 2023 and ends in 2024.
Do solar panels actually increase home value?
On average, solar panels increase the value of a home by 4.1% across the U.S., according to a new analysis of homes across the state of Zillow – that’s a $ 9,274 increase for a $ 226,300 home.