Sharing renewable energy

FPL plans to offer ‘solar subscriptions’ to customers

Whether you’re a South Florida homeowner, renter, business or government agency, there may be an opportunity coming your way to subscribe to solar energy.

It’s called “Solar Together,” and Florida Power & Light Co. plans in March to file a petition with state regulators to sell solar subscriptions where consumers can reduce their bills by sharing in the cost for additional solar energy centers and fields.

The program, if you choose to participate, would work something like this:

■ Each month, your power bill includes an extra solar subscription fee.

■ Gradually increasing each year, you earn solar credits — money back against your monthly electric bill.

■ In five to seven years, the solar credits should be more than you paid for the subscription.

Clean energy and consumer experts say they are optimistic about the program making solar more accessible, but also wary of how much consumers who invest will benefit.

The Juno Beach-based electric utility says solar subscriptions would be a new way for customers to invest in solar energy — even if they don’t own a house or business where they can install solar.

The new solar power won’t come directly to a home or business. It will be delivered to FPL’s grid, where it is combined with power from conventional power sources. If approved by the Florida Public Service Commission, enrollment for all customers could begin next fall.

Florida currently ranks 8th of the top 10 states for solar capacity installed — 2,159 megawatts of solar energy. Power to more than 252,000 homes in the state is supplied by solar, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association in Washington, D.C.

The percentage of Florida’s electricity from solar is still only 1.07 percent of the total this year, according to the association.

Of FPL’s 14 solar plants, eight started up this year. Four more are under construction.

Still, FPL has long been criticized for discouraging individual solar installation as it and other large utilities in the state have pushed to maintain their control over Florida’s energy market. FPL provides power to nearly half the state; parent company NextEra Energy is slated to become even larger with its pending acquisition of Gulf Power in northern Florida.

FPL and other major utilities in the state spent more than $25 million to push a constitutional amendment on the 2016 ballot. Critics said the amendment’s seemingly pro-solar language was misleading — the measure actually would have limited non-utility solar options in Florida. Ultimately, the amendment failed.

Skeptics say they will be monitoring FPL’s new program for its return on investment to customers and for any restrictions that would keep certain power users from participating in the program.

“The devil is in the details,” said Stephen Smith, executive director of Southern

Alliance for Clean Energy in Knoxville, Tenn. “We believe solar is a very valuable energy source, but it is very easy, if you don’t understand the details, to be taken advantage of … Some

programs don’t give any value to customers.”

Smith said he welcomes FPL’s solar subscription program if it expands consumer access to solar, offers value to customers and

doesn’t restrict any other solar programs, such as FPL’s “net-metering,” which allows homeowners and businesses to connect approved solar panels to the electric grid to buy and sell electricity to FPL.

Under Solar Together, participants would subscribe for a fixed monthly amount of solar power to be generated at an FPL solar power plant and, in turn, be eligible for bill credits, according to spokeswoman Alys Daly.

FPL’s estimated subscription rate would be a fixed $6.76 for every kilowatt a customer subscribes to, with a credit rate of 3 cents a kilowatt hour, for either commercial customers or residents, the utility says. The credit rate is what the customer would get back for their share of the solar plant’s generation of energy.

For large power users such as a business subscribing to 100 kilowatts of capacity, that might work out to a net cost of $23 a month in the first year of the program, in addition to its regular bill for that month, according to FPL.

Daly said the utility said it doesn’t yet have an example it can share for a residential bill.

FPL is testing interest in the program with some of its biggest commercial customers. The utility created a

webinar and invited Broward County government and other large power users in South Florida to pre-register for the new solar program. Registration ends on Jan. 25.

Broward County said it could save as much as $46 million over 30 years through the program, if it is able to offset 100 percent of power it currently uses for buildings and operations with solar energy credits, according to Jennifer Jurado, the county’s director of the environmental planning.

Jurado said she sees the solar subscription as an “exceptional” opportunity for the county, which pre-registered Dec. 18 after commissioners approved participation. “We haven’t had access to large-scale opportunities for renewable energy,” she said, adding that not all Broward’s office buildings and other operations can accommodate actual solar installations.

As proposed, the program would initially cost the county about $362,000, Jurado said, if it offsets all 132,000 kilowatts of electricity currently used by the county.

But as the solar credit to the county increases, the county’s billing should be “neutral” within 4 to 5 years — meaning Broward would be paying no more than when the program began. she said. Broward is projecting savings of $119,000 annually by year five. By year 30, annual savings could be more than $3.7 million, Jurado said.

FPL’s Daly said residents or businesses that participate in Solar Together can withdraw from the program at any time.

Duke Energy, Gulf Power and Tampa Electric Co. have announced or are in the process of launching solar subscription programs for their customers in northern and western Florida. Municipal utilities including the Orlando Utilities Commission, City of Tallahassee Electric Utilities, and the Jacksonville Electric Authority provide solar subscription programs.

Mike Antheil, president, of Florida Solar Energy Industries Association in Sarasota, said anything that creates a pathway to developing additional solar in the state is a “good thing.” But he would like to see FPL’s program offer a “direct return” to the homeowner or business participating.

“If I’m paying for one kilowatt of electricity, I should get one kilowatt back on my bill,” he said.