Florida may vote on solar purchase deals

A proposal to lift Florida's ban on power purchase agreements with third-party solar companies could be on next year's election ballot.

The ballot initiative, introduced by the Floridians for Solar Choice in December 2014, seeks to expand distributed solar capacity by amending the state's constitution. If passed, the ballot initiative would give ratepayers the option to buy power directly from third-party owners of solar installations no larger than 2MW. Under current laws, ratepayers are limited to purchasing power from utilities only.

The Florida attorney general's office has forwarded the initiative language to the state Supreme Court for review, a key step before it can qualify for the ballot, the group said on 24 April.

Developers such as Solar City and SunEdison have been unable to expand into the Florida residential market under the state's existing regulatory structure. Passage of the ballot initiative would allow the companies to cover the upfront installation costs of the solar system, and then sell associated generation directly to the ratepayer or back into the grid.

The ballot measure contains a provision that bars electricity utilities from imposing new fees or usage charges for solar system owners to access to the grid.

The initiative gained more than 70,000 signatures required to reach the Supreme Court, and will need 600,000 more signatures by February 2016 to get on the November 2016 ballot.

Florida regulators are looking at the future of solar generation in the state. The Public Service Commission last week asked stakeholders, including utilities, to provide recommendations by 23 June for integration of new solar capacity.

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