Solar energy adoption is expanding rapidly in the Southeast, with Florida leading the region and planning for continued growth, according to a new report from the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.
Florida’s utilities lead the Southeast in total solar capacity, which indicates (in megawatts) the potential amount of electricity generated by solar power plants in a given state. Florida had 9,217 megawatts of solar capacity in 2023 and is expected to more than double that capacity by 2027, the report said.
The seventh annual Solar in the Southeast report looks at solar energy deployment in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. The entire region is expected to double its solar capacity to about 44,000 megawatts by 2027.
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The report called Florida a “solar powerhouse” because it leads the region in total solar capacity, but noted that its large population causes the number to lag behind other states on average per customer. Georgia and South Carolina led the region in solar wattage per customer in 2023, while Florida was just above the regional average.
The report also identified “Sunrisers” for the year, a designation for utilities based on the increase in solar energy delivered per customer between 2023 and 2027.
“There are several Florida Sunrisers who top the list this year,” said Heather Pohnan, senior energy policy manager for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.
Pohnan said the Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC), a municipal utility that provides electricity to Orlando residents, landed at the top of the list because of its leadership along with other members of the Florida Municipal Solar Project, a partnership between the Florida Municipal Power Agency and public utilities across the state to build solar facilities such as solar farms.
The Florida Municipal Solar Project, in which OUC was involved through 2020, “was really a step forward,” said Justin Kramer, OUC director of emerging technologies and data analytics.
OUC has two new solar power plants that it will bring online this year, Kramer said. The utility has set a goal of zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050 and has also set interim targets to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 50% by 2030 and 75% by 2040.
Duke Energy Florida and Florida Power & Light also made the Sunrisers list. The list reflects a trend toward more solar energy among both private and municipal utilities in Florida, Pohnan said.
The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy is a nonprofit organization that says it is committed to “responsible and equitable energy decisions to ensure clean, safe and healthy communities throughout the Southeast.”
While the report notes that utilities such as Florida Power & Light and OUC have implemented zero-carbon goals, it says other utilities in the region are “lagging behind” when it comes to combating climate change through decarbonization and clean energy.
“The climate crisis and the science behind it are challenging us to do more and do it faster,” said Steven Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. “And that’s why, even though we’re seeing tremendous growth in solar, we haven’t yet reached the scale we need to really solve this problem.”
The amount of solar power deployed per customer in Florida is expected to increase through 2027 due to significant increases in Florida’s utilities. Duke Energy Florida plans to add 1,187 watts per customer during that time period, and OUC plans to add 1,132 watts per customer.
“This problem is very difficult; we need hundreds of acres of solar panels to power our customers, and we’re also one of the fastest-growing regions in the country,” Kramer said of the Orlando area. “We’re also electrifying vehicles, which use tremendous amounts of energy. All of these things are opportunities, but they’re also complex things that we have to solve.”
To increase solar efficiency, OUC has developed floating solar arrays on ponds that also conserve valuable land space. According to Kramer, these panels benefit from the cooling effect of the water, making them more efficient.
OUC wants to build the region’s largest floating solar array, pending the results of a study showing whether the panels have a negative impact on pond ecology. Kramer also hopes for further technological advances in solar energy to improve efficiency with fewer panels.
“After a hurricane, you really realize how important electricity is: when someone is hooked up to an oxygen tank and needs that electricity to breathe,” Kramer said. “We need to deliver that electricity to our customers in a reliable and sustainable way. Solving all of these problems is something we’ve been thinking about for a long time.”
With the advent of electric vehicles, data centers and other technologies, utilities are forecasting significant electricity demand for the first time in over a decade, according to the report. This will require utilities to find ways to provide this additional energy.
The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy argues that the use of solar energy is efficient and sustainable.
“If utilities forecast significant load growth and decide to build gas-fired power plants, they could build solar and storage instead, as together they perform fairly similar functions to some of the more traditional power plants,” said Pohnan, the group’s senior energy policy manager.
The report also notes that storage could play a critical role in integrating additional solar power into the grid, with many utilities across the region beginning work on large-scale battery storage projects.
OUC recently installed its first substation-level battery in East St. Cloud and is exploring additional storage technologies such as flywheels (devices that store energy by spinning at high speeds) and thermal storage (devices that capture and store heat).
“We have about eight hours a day of high-sun solar energy that we can use. We can take that energy and store it in the battery for a period of time. And then when the sun goes down, we can use the battery to keep the lights on,” Kramer said.
Pohnan said current solar capacity numbers in Florida are “extremely promising,” but she hopes “that the good progress in solar energy that we have seen in Florida will not be diminished by the impact of potential gas expansion.”
Kristan Reynolds is a senior at Florida Atlantic University majoring in multimedia journalism and minoring in communications studies and will be reporting for The Invading Sea in the summer 2024 semester..
Editor’s note: This story was edited after initial publication to clarify OUC’s role in the Florida Municipal Solar Project. Banner photo: Floating solar panels installed by the Orlando Utilities Commission (photo courtesy of OUC).
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This story was produced in partnership with the Florida Climate Reporting Network, a multi-newsroom initiative founded by the Miami Herald, the South Florida Sun Sentinel, The Palm Beach Post, the Orlando Sentinel, WLRN Public Media and the Tampa Bay Times.
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