The JEA
began the solar program on a pilot basis Feb. 1 and plans to kick
off a marketing campaign in April to coincide with Earth Day. It has
set aside $450,000 for the program through the end of September and
hasn't decided how much to earmark in the next fiscal year.
The JEA pledged in a 1999 agreement with the Sierra Club and
American Lung Association to pursue "clean" energy sources such as
solar power that offset smokestack emissions from generating
stations that burn coal and oil.
By 2007, the JEA wants solar power to produce 0.1 percent of its
overall generating capacity. The power from solar would be
equivalent to the average electric consumption of 3,000 homes,
according to the utility.
Other utilities serving Northeast Florida say the high cost of
solar equipment keeps it from being an attractive feature.
Florida Power & Light, which serves parts of Duval, Clay and
Nassau counties, offers financial incentives for customers to
install high-efficiency central cooling and heating systems, repair
air-conditioning-heating ducts, and add ceiling insulation. Clay
Electric Co-op, which primarily serves Clay County, will provide
loans for such things as energy-efficient electric water heaters.
Florida Power & Light offered rebates for solar-heated water
for years, but ended the program in 1997. The program helped
individual customers but, given the cost, it didn't do enough to
affect the electric rate paid by all customers, company spokesman
Bill Swank said.
"Over time, as more systems are installed, the cost might go
down," said Sherman Phillips, manager of energy services at Clay
Electric.
Even though solar power would contribute a relatively small
amount of energy consumed in Jacksonville, the JEA's initiative is
the most ambitious in the state, said Jennifer Szaro, energy analyst
at the Florida Solar Energy Center, a research institute of the
University of Central Florida.
The JEA's goal would amount to six times the amount of solar
power currently produced in the entire state, she said.
"They're the only utility that has really stepped up to the plate
to do this," she said, adding that Florida's climate is well-suited
for solar power.
The JEA hasn't set any caps on what companies in the program can
charge, so those businesses could potentially take advantage of the
JEA's contribution by raising their prices and increasing profits.
The Florida Solar Energy Center, which recently finished dispersing
a half-million dollar state grant in a state solar rebate program,
faced the same concerns about solar companies gaining the financial
benefit, rather than consumers, Szaro said.
"In the beginning, I think there may have been some ... [price]
gouging going on," she said.
But as the program progressed, competition among companies caused
prices to go down, she said.
The JEA will provide the biggest financial incentives for solar
equipment that is manufactured and installed by companies located
within the JEA service area. The JEA wants to create a homegrown
solar industry in which competition will result in lower prices. The
utility won't be involved in negotiations between customers and
companies, but it will keep track of what companies are charging.
"We do want to make sure our customers get the most value for the
dollars they spend and that we get value for the dollars we spend,"
JEA spokesman Bruce Dugan said.
Business owners in the solar trade say they anticipate the JEA
program will bring a sharp increase in customers.
"I expect it to go gangbusters," said American Solar Energy's
Mark Krenn, who plans to apply for authorization with the JEA.
"The program is one of the most aggressive, other than in Hawaii,
that I've seen anywhere in the United State," said Billy Byrom,
president of Alternate Energy Technologies, which runs a Westside
plant that manufactures solar panels for distribution worldwide.
Staff writer David Bauerlein can be reached at (904)
359-4581 or via e-mail at dbauerlein.
