The merger and partnership of liberal environmentalists and conservatives was bonded because the two groups needed to re-establish the laws and restrictions regarding the use of solar power in the state of Florida.
The groups joining forces include people from all sides of the spectrum including, business owners, libertarians, and Christian conservatives. A partnership that has started a new campaign that will hopefully place the subject of restrictions and suppression of the solar industry on the 2016 ballot..
Florida has 229 megawatts of potential solar capacity making it the 13 ranked producer of solar energy in the country; while California has 8,544 megawatts, ranking in first place.
Executive Director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, Stephen Smith, states, “Florida is the best solar market in the eastern United States, and it’s clearly underperforming.” Smith’s organization promotes renewable clean energy and is clearly upset that Florida’s potential is not meeting current expectations.
In Florida’s current economy, consumers are only allowed to purchase electricity and the solar energy from utilities and the state law has made it illegal for citizen’s to buy such resources from third parties. The group established itself because they felt that those who have the power for this change are simply not applying the needed force. This is why they are pushing for the matter to be on the upcoming ballot, which needs 680,000 signatures in order to be accepted.
Sterling Ivey, a spokesman for Duke Energy Florida, is able to provide electricity in several parts of the state and wishes that he could help and mentions that he wants to “achieve energy policies, incorporating solar, that are fair and beneficial to all of our customers.”
Photo By: AP
