Local Leaders Invest In Effort To Diversify Solar Power

Miami FL

04 May, 2022

5:14 PM

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By Samantha Morell Miami Times Staff Writer (Courtesy of Lee Jones) (Courtesy of Pamela Brown-Eyo) (Courtesy of Pamela Brown-Eyo) (Courtesy of Lee Jones) (Courtesy of Pamela Brown-Eyo) (Courtesy of Jerald McQueen) (Courtesy of Jerald McQueen), the Miami Times May 3, 2022 Lee Jones and his wife, Gina Jones, stand in front of their South Miami Heights home, which is equipped with a full solar energy rooftop system. (Courtesy of Lee Jones) Since deciding to go solar in 2021, Lee Jones has been enjoying reliable energy, $10 utility bills and credits with Florida Power & Light, but he says that transition didn't come easily. For him, the journey to get to where he is now has been nothing short of an uphill battle. Now, Miami-Dade County is partnering up with nonprofit organization Solar United Neighbors (SUN) to help answer all of the pressing questions that Jones says turned his installation process into a headache. The county recently launched its 2022 solar co-op to encourage residents to start harnessing the power of the sun – and to help them do it at a lower cost. A solar co-op, SUN's trademark dollar-saving strategy allows homeowners to take advantage of bulk-purchasing power by coming together and transitioning to solar all at once. With SUN as its facilitator, a group of interested buyers submits a competitive request for proposal, to which companies respond with an array of discounted rates and deals. Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava joined members of Solar United Neighbors, sponsors and residents during the April 13 launch of the county's 2022 solar co-op. (Courtesy of Pamela Brown-Eyo) Jones, for one, was surprised to hear that multiple installers would be willing to bid for a homeowner's business. A resident in South Miami Heights, he paid Momentum Solar about $50,000 for approximately 40 panels after learning about the process in March 2021. Even though he took the time to do his own research, he says, there are some things he wishes he would have known before he made the commitment. Delayed gratification One of those is how long it would take for his solar panels to go live. Originally having hoped to immediately take advantage of the summer sun, he was disappointed to find that his system wouldn't start producing energy until the end of November. Solar United Neighbors is a national nonprofit that leverages bulk-purchasing power to help property owners go solar at a cheaper cost. (Courtesy of Pamela Brown-Eyo) That's in stark contrast to the wait time experienced by Esver Camacho, who told our sister publication the Biscayne Times that his panels went live no more than a month after signing with his vendor, Cutler Bay Solar Solutions. A participant in the county's 2018 solar co-op – also in partnership with SUN – Camacho ended up paying about $24,000 for approximately 34 panels to be installed on his home near Coral Gables. Jones says he blames FPL for the delay with his system. Most of his confusion surrounded the utility's strict guidelines on net metering, the state's only financial incentive for going solar. Net metering allows solar users to contribute their own excess energy to the public grid in exchange for a one-to-one credit, much like a cell phone plan's rollover minutes. At the end of each month, a negative net meter value – representing unused energy measured in kilowatt hours – is rolled over to the following month at the retail rate. If the homeowner later needs to access additional energy from the public grid, the portion covered by the credit won't show up on their utility bill. Each month may bring a positive or negative value to a homeowner's net meter; at the end of the year the final value rolls over at wholesale rate. Lee Jones had his solar panels installed in 2021. (Courtesy of Lee Jones) Jones had to fill out a net metering application before his panels could be wired so as to allow him to reap those benefits. The application was continuously rejected by FPL – each time with a new reason cited for its denial – before it was finally accepted after the third or fourth try. "Even calling FPL, you'll never get a human being," Jones said. "You'll just keep getting automated this, automated that. It kind of killed interest for those months that I was not able to tell relatives, families and friends that I was benefiting from it." Jones now plans on telling those relatives and friends that there's a potentially better – and cheaper – way to go solar: by joining the co-op. He says it's something he himself would have been interested in had it been known and available to him when he decided to make the change. Diversifying solar energy Pamela Brown-Eyo, climate and environmental justice chairwoman for the South Dade NAACP, speaks at the April 13 launch of the 2022 Miami-Dade County solar co-op in partnership with Solar United Neighbors. (Courtesy of Pamela Brown-Eyo) Word of mouth may prove to be an essential part to the co-op's success. A second-time partnering sponsor of SUN's efforts in the county, the NAACP South Dade Branch is conducting its own community outreach in hopes of bringing renewable energy to people from all walks of life. The organization begins by sharing the opportunity between members, who then branch out by contacting churches and other social groups to spread the word, also utilizing social media to reach a wider audience. "I think what Solar United Neighbors recognizes is that, when they do offer solar co-ops, they're not always reaching some of the lower-income communities in Miami-Dade County," said Pamela Brown-Eyo, the climate and environmental justice chairwoman for the South Dade NAACP. "I think that's how we really kind of started, that the NAACP would like to see more African Americans be more involved with environmental and climate justice." Brown-Eyo says her biggest struggle is convincing homeowners that investing in solar energy isn't just for the wealthy. She's always trying to spread the message of feasibility, assuring others that making the change could actually save them money, as well as help the environment. "I think it takes rethinking our budget," she said. "We often say that if you're paying $200 a month for your utility bill, then you could simply take that $200 and use it to pay down on your solar installation. You don't have to go out and find new money to pay for solar; you already have it." State-level threats Until recently that message was being threatened by a House bill that would have struck down net metering by 2029. HB 741 – orchestrated primarily by FPL – was approved both by the Senate and the House but vetoed by Gov. Ron DeSantis April 27. Although the surprise veto is a major win for solar advocates, FPL has made it clear that it doesn't intend on quitting just yet. It still plans to seek other ways to undermine net metering, which utilities believe is an unfair process that burdens non-solar users with jacked-up costs. "At FPL we are always working to deliver clean, reliable energy while keeping customer bills affordable," said FPL spokesperson Chris McGrath. "We remain committed to finding an equitable net metering solution for all Floridians. FPL is leading the nation's largest solar expansion and we will continue to advance solar that is cost-effective for all our customers." It's unclear which venue the utility will approach next with its proposed changes, already having failed at the ballot box in 2016 with a heavily rejected amendment and again now with the Florida Legislature. In the meantime, its minimum base bill increase, recently approved by the Public Service Commission, is due to take effect June 2022. Solar users and non-solar users alike will have to pay $25 a month just to stay connected to the grid – instead of the $10 Jones has been happy to see on his bill for the past five months. Brown-Eyo is particularly worried about what will happen if that minimum rate continues to increase. Financial friendliness is a large part of her pro-solar argument, especially for those who can't always afford to make the more expensive – albeit environmentally conscious – moves, like investing in an electric vehicle. "If we recognize that climate change is occurring and that by year 2030 we need to hit a benchmark, and then by 2050 we need to be at another benchmark," she asks in light of FPL's unwaning efforts, "how are we doing it? How are we trying to achieve that?" Jerald McQueen, Founder of Phoenix Energy Systems (Courtesy of Jerald McQueen) Still, while Phoenix Energy founder Jerald McQueen can testify to the importance of affordability, to him, solar energy is about something more: independence. Decentralized power production McQueen was living with his mother in Miami Gardens when Hurricane Wilma devastated the state in 2005. He said his neighborhood was among the last to see its power restored after the storm. "Opa-locka and the predominantly Black neighborhoods were the last to get service from Florida Power and Light," McQueen remembers. "Three days after the storm, Miami Beach had their power on, Aventura had their power on, South Miami and Coral Gables had their power on. It built up to weeks after the storm before Opa-locka and what's now Miami Gardens got their power on, so this troubled me." FPL has since made its after-storm restoration priorities public, which begin with hospitals and fire and police stations. But the events that took place in 2005 were enough to get McQueen thinking. What devastated him the most was walking outside with a garbage bag full of spoiled food only to find several neighbors doing the same thing. Black people needed an independent source of energy, he thought; they couldn't rely on a public utility for their most basic needs. A ground system installed by Phoenix Energy Systems for Millrock Holy Missionary Baptist Church in Gladeview, Fla. (Courtesy of Jerald McQueen) Fast forward four years to 2009 and McQueen was able to officially start Phoenix Energy Systems, funded primarily with money garnered from sales of scrap metal found on the street. Today, he runs his business with his daughter, Dominique McQueen, who oversees the company's operations. If there's one thing that SUN, Brown-Eyo and the father-daughter duo of Phoenix Energy all have in common, it's their insistence on prioritizing inclusivity as well as affordability. Phoenix Energy Systems offers free consultations at Phoenix-EnergySystems.com. The county's solar co-op is also free to join at SolarUnitedNeighbors.org. "It's just about getting people to that point of seeing the reality that this can be a reality, and it can be a reality that can take place now," said Brown-Eyo. "It doesn't have to be in the future sometime. It can be right now." After all, says McQueen, "the sun shines on everybody." The Miami Times is the largest Black-owned newspaper in the south serving Miami's Black community since 1923. The award-winning weekly is frequently recognized as the best Black newspaper in the country by the National Newspaper Publishers Association.