Would you pay more for solar? You'll get your chance from FPL
NEW: FPL wants to build 30 million solar panels by 2030 - what it would - Palm Beach Post
Excerpt: Juno Beach-based Florida Power & Light and its parent company NextEra Energy, intend to expand its fleet of solar panels to 30 million by 2030 to reduce carbon emissions and, eventually, power bills.
The effort from Florida’s largest power company would reduce the company’s overall carbon emissions by 67 percent, FPL President Eric Silagy said.
While the company builds its solar empire, it’s also launching an energy subscription service called “Solar Together,” that allows eco-conscious customers to pay for up to 100 percent solar energy.
FPL is awaiting permission from the Florida Public Service Commission, but is pre-registering large customers through January. Broward County and the cities of Delray Beach, West Palm Beach and Sarasota are among the large power consumers that have agreed to subscribe when the program launches in 2020.
Delray Beach, which agreed Tuesday to register for Solar Together, wants to power the city entirely by solar energy by 2020.
Bottom Line: I’m a fan of solar, Florida is easily the state with the most upside by greater adaptation to solar, but... What’s the but? The question is if you want to pay more for solar. And if so, how much? There are a lot of people who’ll say yes when asked but is that reality? Take a look at the low levels of adaptation across our state and South Florida. That’s a choice we’ve made not to pay up to make the switch. And that’s even when there’s potentially a long-term value proposition involved by being able to potentially recoup costs over time with lower power bills.
We don’t have enough info at this point to know how much more moving to 100% solar will be, but a test program introduced by FPL in 2015 asked for $9 more per customer per month. So that may represent the floor of how much more it potentially would cost. If you’re interested you might start thinking about how much more you would be willing to spend, if anything to know that your home or business is being powered by solar, because that’s the decision that comes next. Also, if you’re leery of the way some local governments tax and spend your money, you might keep an eye on this as several communities are lining up to say yes without even knowing the actual cost yet.