You may have recently joined the FPL SolarNow program advertised by FPL to help bring solar energy projects into our local communities. However, the City of Fort Lauderdale is encouraging residents to consider joining an actual co-op program available through Broward County where many resources can be pooled to bring more affordable solar energy to each participant’s home. The Broward County 2021 Solar Co-op is free for all residents of Broward County to join, and there is no obligation to purchase solar after you have joined the Solar United Neighbors Broward Co-op.
Seven Isles recently spoke with Jason Bocchinfuso, Sustainability Administrator of the City of Fort Lauderdale to learn more about this co-op and understand how it is different from the solar program FPL advertises. Here’s what we learned:
What Makes this Solar Program Different versus the Florida Power and Light Solar Program?
FPL constructs, owns, and operates a solar panel farm in the unincorporated areas of South Florida and receives a federal tax credit for doing so. Homeowners can subscribe to this program and the electricity delivered to your home comes from that solar farm, if and once it is available.
In the Go Solar Broward Cooperative, homeowners team up with other homeowners interested in solar energy and work with a developer to install solar panels on your homes, but at a discount. The homeowner also directly receives a federal tax credit for doing so (currently 26% off the cost of the project) and you are immediately being powered by solar energy, rather than waiting for availability.
In other words, the Broward co-op creates group buying power to reduce the costs and complexity of procuring solar energy systems for residents’ homes. More information can be found online HERE or by emailing the program’s community representative at FLteam@SolarUnitedNeighbors.org.