Susan Windmiller – President, League of Women Voters Miami-Dade
Florida is ranked 3rd in the country for rooftop solar potential, but all the way down at 12th for cumulative solar capacity installed. In Unincorporated Miami-Dade County, where over 1.3 million people reside, only 122 residential permits were issued for solar installations since 2014.
We can debate the reasons for lack of solar in the sunshine state for days, if not weeks. But one reason that’s not debatable is the cost of solar. For a 9kW system, the cost can run you up to $27,000.
Enter the relentless energy of the League of Women Voters of Florida and Miami-Dade County. Together with Solar United Neighbors of Florida (formerly FL SUN), and countless local initiatives and organizations like Resilient Miami, the League is expanding access to solar by organizing groups of neighbors to form cooperatives (co-ops) to get discounts on members’ individual purchase of solar systems for their homes. Add to that a 30% Tax Credit and your estimated annual electricity savings, you may be paying 50% less for installing solar on your home.
Now add to that the financing tools available to many Miami-Dade residents through Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs, like Ygrene, and your upfront costs for going solar could be zero.
Co-ops are being successfully implemented in Broward, Sarasota, Orange, Seminole and Alachua Counties. In Miami-Dade, the goal is to facilitate the installation of at least 350 residential solar systems through the six cooperatives, for an estimated 3.2MW of installed solar capacity. This is estimated to facilitate $8,000,000 in local solar investments. That’s jobs being created right here in the growing solar industry in addition to the savings on your utility bill!
Want to join a co-op? Visit Solar United Neighbors of Florida to get information on a workshop in your neighborhood. Be a part of powering up with Florida Sunshine at a reduced cost through an FL SUN co-op and save money on your electricity bill.
