Last edited Sun Feb 7, 2016, 05:39 PM - Edit history (1)

I live in Florida, and cannot for the life of me figure out why we don't have entire communities creating independent solar power systems to enhance, back up or replace grid power. We have many storms and accompanying power outages, which is a disaster in the hot rainy season, and hundreds of acres of new houses with huge roof surfaces going up every day.

There are regulatory issues, especially with the utilities' new push to essentially force everyone to pay for grid power whether they use it or not, but we ought to be able to dispense with all of those on the basis of public safety. And an array of microgrids would not be as susceptible to the potential of a big terrorist hack of the national power grid all the politicians keep raising in the debates.

If we put a fraction of the blood, sweat and tears into improving our infrastructure that we do in trying to dictate the political environment in the Middle East, we'd all be cruising along on cheap or free, reliable renewable energy in a heartbeat.

I believe Florida has restrictions that have made solar power use unaffordable for homeowners.

According to their website, the Solar Energies Industry Association states: "Florida, “the sunshine state,” ranks third in the nation for rooftop solar potential, but all the way down at 14th for cumulative solar capacity installed. Florida’s solar policies lag behind many other states in the nation: it has no renewable portfolio standard and does not allow power purchase agreements, two policies that have driven investments in solar in other states.'" Link: http://www.seia.org/state-solar-policy/florida

Rules vary from state to state. In Maryland, my husband and I will have solar panels installed on our roof at zero cost to us through a PPA * agreement.

*"A solar power purchase agreement (PPA) is a financial agreement where a developer arranges for the design, permitting, financing and installation of a solar energy system on a customer’s property at little to no cost. The developer sells the power generated to the host customer at a fixed rate that is typically lower than the local utility’s retail rate. This lower electricity price serves to offset the customer’s purchase of electricity from the grid while the developer receives the income from these sales of electricity as well as any tax credits and other incentives generated from the system. PPAs typically range from 10 to 25 years and the developer remains responsible for the operation and maintenance of the system for the duration of the agreement."

http://www.seia.org/research-resources/solar-power-purchase-agreements

The huge grids are vulnerable to the weather, age, and hacking and terrorism.

The thing is, the big grids enable power companies to just keep raising rates, for maintenance, and that is how they are trying to discourage solar panels, IMO.

Microgrids are going to be the new paradigm, and investors should be looking at helping with this, and not looking to smother and choke solar power.

Same problem with the internet lines, really - ALEC-type legislation sponsored by the big providers is being used to make it illegal for a municipality to build and deploy its own internet lines.