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Thousands of people around Florida are working together bring solar to the people of the sunshine state. The Florida Solar Ballot Initiative is an organized effort to allow third party sale of solar power and is a direct challenge against the large utility companies in Florida. US Solar Institute supports this effort and is working to help obtain signatures for the ballot initiative.
The ballot initiative would place a question on the 2016 general election ballet asking voters to decide on expanding solar choice in Florida. If passed, the initiative would allow third parties to install and sell solar power, a practice that is currently allowed in over thirty other states in America. The success of this proposal would remove a market barrier that is currently slowing the growth of solar in the state of Florida.
This proposal would allow more individuals to power their homes with solar power because it would give them the option to purchase solar power through a purchase agreement set up over a period of time. The individuals would be paying for the power itself instead of requiring the large, upfront investment of installing the solar equipment itself. Despite the falling cost of solar installation, the upfront investment is still a large amount of money that not all individuals are able to afford. The option to have solar installed at no cost and to simply purchase the solar power removes this financial obstacle.
Floridians for Solar Choice needs to collect 70,000 signatures by March in order to move forward with betting the proposal on the ballot in 2016. US Solar Institute is helping collect signatures and encourages all Floridians to get involved as well.