Legislature needs to get serious about solar energy

MARTIN COUNTY — Martin County was in the national spotlight Friday when a story The New York Times published made the community look like a hotbed of solar power production.
The piece focused on the solar-thermal plant Florida Power & Light Co. is building in Indiantown — a facility that will be the first of its kind in the world and the largest in the state when it is complete this year.
It detailed the unusual way the plant’s solar technology will be married to FPL’s existing natural gas plant at the site, with the goals of cutting costs and increasing fuel efficiency.
In many ways, the Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center has become an emblem of the good that came of a 2008 state law that allowed electric utilities to bill customers for up to 110 megawatts of solar power. As a result of that law, FPL decided to build Florida’s first three solar plants, the largest of which is the 75-megawatt Martin facility.
But the plant is also a reminder of the frustration that has followed.
In the two years that have passed since the solar bill was signed into law, there has been a lot of talk in Tallahassee about the need to spur more renewable-energy production, but not much action.
In the meantime, big solar power projects have been sidelined, including a proposal for a solar-powered city at Babcock Ranch north of Fort Myers.
Lawmakers will have another crack at the issue this legislative session, but industry watchers are not overly optimistic.
In the midst of a recession, with state legislators facing an expected $3 billion budget shortfall, renewable energy tends not to be top of mind. In the short run, it is more expensive for ratepayers, and that makes it politically unappealing.
Just look at what happened last year, when a proposed “renewable portfolio standard” (which would have required utilities to generate a certain percentage of energy from renewable sources) was up for debate. The issue got muddied with talk about drilling off Florida’s coast, and the legislative session ended without anything approved.
The portfolio standard has resurfaced again this session within some of the half-dozen or so renewable energy bills proposed. If approved, it almost certainly would spur the development of more solar plants. That would have long-term benefits for the state by boosting a solar-power industry, even if it means slightly higher costs for utility customers in the short run (FPL customers’ costs for the first three plants are about 31 cents more a month).
Mike Antheil, executive director of the Florida Alliance for Renewable Energy, thinks the standard is a step in the right direction, but he would like to see the Legislature go even further.
His group is backing the Farm to Energy Act proposed by state Sen. Thad Altman, R-Melbourne, which would allow any certified producer of renewable energy — whether biomass, solar or wind — to connect to the grid and sell their electricity to utilities on a long-term basis. The bill would pave the way for farms to generate new streams of income, Antheil said. It also would create demand for solar manufacturing and installation, which would generate jobs for unemployed construction workers in Florida.
“If we’re going to achieve solar, we should do it the right way,” he said.
But if the state legislature doesn’t act this session, the Sunshine State’s solar power market will be back where it was pre-2008: behind the curve.