A Victory For Green Energy; DeSantis Vetoes Rooftop Solar Bill

The clouds cleared Wednesday over rooftop solar’s future in Florida after Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed a bill that would have reduced and eventually removed financial incentives for installing rooftop solar energy panels on homes and businesses.

The legislation, which was widely reported as having been written by lobbyists for Florida Power & Light, the state’s largest private electric utility, would have allowed electric utilities to charge solar customers for generating their own power and reducing demand on the private utilities’ grid.

Although private and public utilities have installed extensive solar farms all over the state to supply electric power to their distribution systems, thousands of homeowners and businesses have also decided to invest in solar energy to lower their carbon footprint and to reduce their long-term energy costs by lowering their electric bills.

The bill would have made the investment less attractive.

Although the utilities argued the current setup subsidized rooftop solar at the expense of the rest of the customers, that claim was never independently reviewed and the solar industry maintained the claim was exaggerated.

Sierra and other groups actively lobbied for the defeat of the legislation and after it passed for a gubernatorial. veto because providing more power from renewable resources will help to reduce the threat of climate change from greenhouse gas emissions.

“This is an incredible win for Florida’s families, businesses and environment,” said Luigi Guadarrama, Sierra Club Florida’s political director.

Posted in Group Conservation Issues.