The Sunshine State has fallen behind more than a dozen other states in harnessing its sunshine for energy.
A national report conducted by the Solar Power industry, ranked Florida 17th in the country for production of solar energy last year.
That’s behind solar superpower California and states such as New Jersey, North Carolina, Massachusetts and Ohio.
Wayne Wallace, the president of Florida Solar Energy Industries Association, said the Sunshine State’s ranking is due to lawmakers not making solar a priority.
“You know, we really need some good strong leaders to step up,” he said. “And see the value and the economic engine that solar can deliver with jobs—and, you know, help with the policy.”
Wallace said Florida gets more hours of sunshine annually than any other state east of the Mississippi and state lawmakers should be working to harness that potential energy source through incentives.
Wallace said getting utility companies to embrace solar power would also go a long way in getting people to use more solar power, which already has public support.
“The appetite for solar is huge,” he said. “Eighty-five percent of Floridians want more solar and will pay more for solar--as much as a dollar a month. We are helping to subsidize nuclear power where the cost of that keeps increasing and increasing, yet we don’t we don’t do much with subsidy of solar where the cost keeps driving south.”
Things may be looking up. In 2008, voters approved a measure that would stop the state government from taxing homeowners for the added value solar panels give their home. The Florida Legislature put that measure on the books this year.
