2 • The Southwest Portland Post
Dear EarthTalk: Is it true that home
rooftop solar only makes sense in
certain parts of the U.S. with proper
incentives as opposed to where the
sun shines the most?
-- Esther Knox, Wilton, NH
The short answer is yes. In the
United States, whether or not it is easy
and economical to go solar depends
more on state politics than prevailing
weather trends.
In those states with ample sunshine
and the legislative initiative to get solar
panels on residential roofs, there has
never been a better—or cheaper—time
to put photovoltaic panels to use.
According to Solar Power Rocks,
a website that helps homeowners
understand the rules, incentives, and
investment returns on local solar panel
installations, the top three states where
switching over to solar power makes
the most economic sense are in the
Northeast (New York, Massachusetts,
and Connecticut). Maryland,
Connecticut, Oregon, Minnesota, New
FEATURES
Mexico, Vermont, and Colorado round
out the top 10.
What makes these states particularly
prime for rooftop solar is their
willingness to allow homeowners
to lease photovoltaic equipment
from third-party owners (like Sun
Edison, Solar City, Sun Run, etc.) and
legislature-backed incentives to help
keep costs down overall. Going solar in
one of these states might end up being
cheaper than remaining on the grid.
Surprisingly, a few states in the South
(Florida, North Carolina, Oklahoma,
and Kentucky), where solar panels
would seem like a no-brainer, continue
to resist this change for the better, in
large part due to entrenched utility
lobbies intent on maintaining their
fossil-fuel-based lock on the status quo.
According to a recent Rolling Stone
article by Tim Dickinson, the recent
ascent of solar power in the U.S. poses
a grave threat to the business interests
of big fossil fuel industry investors.
Dickinson details how these
entrenched interests are “mounting
a fierce, rear-guard resistance at the
state level—pushing rate hikes and
punishing fees for homeowners who
turn to solar power.”
He adds that their efforts have
“darkened green-energy prospects
in could-be solar superpowers” like
Arizona and Nevada. “But nowhere
has the solar industry been more
eclipsed than in Florida, where the
utilities’ powers of obstruction are
unrivaled.”
April 2016
The best three states across the U.S. for putting solar panels on the roof are in the Northeast.
(Photo by Nick Normal, FlickrCC)
“The solar industry in Florida has been
boxed out by investor-owned utilities
that reap massive profits from natural
gas and coal,” reports Dickinson. “These
IOUs wield outsize political power in
the state capital of Tallahassee, and flex
it to protect their absolute monopoly on
electricity sales.”
While Florida might be a laggard on
rooftop solar for now, that could all
change if some residents are successful
in their drive for an amendment to the
state constitution to allow for third-
party solar ownership (which would
enable solar leasing).
Of course, the state’s utilities have
challenged the amendment by creating
their own, designed to confuse voters
into keeping solar panels off their
rooftops.
For more information on where
your state stands in terms on rooftop
solar, check out Solar Power Rocks
2016 U.S. Solar Power Rankings. Also,
visit the website of the Database of
State Incentives for Renewables &
Efficiency for a full run-down of
state-by-state, federal and other
incentives for installing solar panels
and other forms of renewable energy
equipment.
Contacts: Solar Power Rocks, www.
solarpowerrocks.com; Database of
State Incentives for Renewables &
Efficiency, www.dsireusa.org.
EarthTalk® is written by Roddy Scheer
and Doug Moss and is a registered
trademark of Earth Action Network, a
501(c) 3 non-profit. Send questions to:
question@earthtalk.org.
well
be
…
and well informed
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