Coalition gathers signatures for 2016 vote on solar energy

Feb 24 - South Florida Sun Sentinel (FL)

A petition drive that would let Florida voters expand the market for solar energy is racking up signatures.

About month into the drive, Floridians for Solar Choice announced they've gathered 100,000 of the nearly 700,000 signatures needed to add their constitutional amendment to the 2016 ballot.

Signatures have come "from more than 170 Florida cities from Altoona to Zephyrhills , with more coming in every day," announced Tory Perfetti , who chairs the coalition's political action committee.

Florida is one of only five states that ban consumers from buying electricity directly from an entity other than a utility. That means homes and businesses in Florida can't install their own small-scale solar facilities and sell the energy to neighbors. They also can't work with companies that could lease them solar facilities and help them cut the upfront costs for clean sun energy, coalition leaders said.

The ballot initiative would ask voters to allow non-utility producers of up to 2 megawatts of soalr energy sell that energy to the same property or nearby ones. It also would require utilities to keep serving those customers with their grids, even if those customers buy solar energy elsewhere.

Pushing for solar choice is an unusual mix of business, conservative and environmental groups. They range from the Florida Retail Federation to the Tea Party Network to Greenpeace USA .

Members also include Physicians for Social Responsibility Florida , ReThink Energy Florida, Sierra Club Florida, Florida Solar Energy Industries Association , Libertarian Party of Florida , Republican Liberty Caucus of Florida and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy , among others.

"The Tea Party Network and conservatives have always championed private property rights and free market competition. The Floridians for Solar Choice ballot initiative will advance the rights of property owners to sell solar energy produced on their private property to their neighbors or tenants," said Catherine Baer , chair of The Tea Party Network, in a statement."

Processing of the first 100,000 signatures is a milestone required to trigger the Florida Supreme Court's review of the ballot language, according to Stephen A. Smith , executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy .

The coalition said it seeks a constitutional amendment, because bills for solar choice filed with the Florida Legislature for the past three years have failed to make it out of legislative committees.

The measures were stymied by "the undue influence of monopoly power companies" in the legislature, according to the coalition's website. "The bills were never even granted a hearing. That's why we must take the issue directly to the people."

Florida Power & Light Co. , the state's largest utility, declined comment Monday on the petition drive.

FPL's parent company, NextEra Energy, based in Juno Beach , works in many states that allow entities other than utilities to sell energy to consumers.

dhemlock@sunsentinel.com , 305-810-5009, @dhemlock on Twitter

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