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Solar power is poised to hit the big time in Florida with the expected passage next month of a new energy law requiring power companies to generate 20 percent of their electricity from renewable sources, including the sun, by 2020. The mandate should provide a huge boost to Florida's nascent renewable energy industry.
While there are many ways to reach the goal, some business and environmental groups say lawmakers favor a system that would give windfall profits to large energy companies, cost consumers more and generate fewer local jobs and less clean energy.
The system is known as "renewable energy credits," or RECs, which would allow utilities to decide who can sell them solar energy based on a bidding process, resulting primarily in large, centralized solar developments.
Opponents of the REC system say an alternative program, called a "feed-in tariff," encourages more small-scale solar development on homes and businesses by setting a price for solar energy that makes it profitable for anyone with open land or roof space. The system also forces electric utilities to buy energy from everyone. Read more from Herald-Tribune |
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