“It‘s all about access to capital,” was the common theme of the Solar Advocacy meeting, hosted by Sustainable Tallahassee (join if you aren’t already a member). The committee’s goal is to increase the community’s knowledge of solar and increase the number of solar residential and commercial roofs. 
James Young is the chair of the Solar Advocacy committee, which has been working in Leon County with the ‘green home’ retrofit program by Rainbow Rehab and expanding the “I Recycle” program in the schools.
Tom Cordi, the new Executive Director of Sustainable Tallahassee, spoke briefly about his goal to “get everyone involved in Sustainability.” PHOTO: Florida Solar Energy Center
Familiar face, David Byrne, spoke about solar systems and how they are becoming a larger portion of the City’s Energy Loan Program. He said that the cost to purchase and install system is a barrier: a 2K system could cost up to $20,000 to purchase and install. Capital costs can be spread over ten years (originally five). Savings in energy costs can be applied to repayments. The City, a member of the Solar Energy Producers Association, has supported staff to be trained at Florida Solar Energy Center. The City’s fairly new Department on Energy Policy researches and promotes conservation and green energy policy.
David spoke about the City’s net metering program, implemented in 2001, which allows customers with solar to send excess energy back to the grid. The customer is then credited on the utility bill (no funds are paid back to the customer) and referenced the solar water heater rebate of $450 (this is in addition to the solar tax credit). Currently, 361K in solar power is generated through net metering, close to the City’s initial goal of 400K generated through solar. (This may not be an accurate estimate, as the City does not have information on solar installations that are not tied into the grid.) He sees solar playing a greater part in the utility’s portfolio and in utilities across Florida. He mentioned that, since some type of federal carbon “law” to incentive carbon reduction will be passed in the near future, the City will need to rebalance its current methods of power generation.
A discussion of ROI (return on investment) for solar always sparks a lively debate. Looking at $4.00 per watt, as the current cost, several attendees said they felt this cost would be greatly reduced, as the cost of solar is coming down dramatically and others debated whether ROI should even be a part of the conversation. Do homeowners discuss ROI for any other home purchase–a dishwasher? Current ROI for solar panels could be as high as 45% after the rebate and federal tax credit.
Leon County was represented by Sustainable Director, Maggie Terry, who expressed her interest in learning where the County fits into the renewable energy picture. She said that since Leon County is not a utility provider, it is looking for the appropriate role to promote sustainability, including solar. Talquin Electric was not represented at the meeting.
A number of people said that access to capital is, indeed, the barrier to installing more solar. One question posed was could solar energy loans be designed with funding from the County, lent to the City, administered as loans to utility customers who would repay the loan through an additional fee included on their monthly utility bill? The current City of Tallahassee loan program is almost all being utilized for investments in solar. Debt repayment through this mechanism has a significantly lower default rate that traditional consumer or home equity loans.
“Right now, it’s easier to get a concealed weapons permit than a solar rebate,” said Al Simpler owner of Simpler Solar Systems in Tallahassee, referring to the lag in time between when an individual applies for a rebate and the time the rebate is issued. The Governor’s Energy Office has a waiting list that goes back to February.
$7.4 million has been issued in rebates, however funding for rebates was depleted prior to the end of Florida’s fiscal year, June 30, 2009. Other states assign rebate certificates ahead of time so that the individual or business knows they are approved for a rebate. Florida claims this approach is illegal in this state. Currently, the solar program ends July 2010. Unlike California, Florida does not have an on-going source for solar funding, but has to wait each year for the Legislature to appropriate and authorize funds.
The City may be looking at the ‘feed-in tariff’ adopted by the Gainesville Regional Utilities that pays customers a pre-negotiated price of $.32 per K hr. for energy generateed back to the grid by solar. Gainesville should have six months of data on this now, and has adopted the name RED (Renewable Energy Dividend), eliminating the word tariff.
The headaches of City permitting and the many layers through which a contractor must travel, brought to light the fact that Leon County has adopted a permitting system that provides for a master permit file with the pre-review of solar contractors, who can then pull permits over the web. A telephone permitting system is available for vendors who have a trust account established with the County.
The Solar Advocacy Group will continue to meet and will take suggestions offered at this meeting and research others as a part of making recommendations for improving access to solar in the community. Residents are encouraged to participate in future meetings which are posted on the Sustainable Tallahassee website.
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