A New #1 For Solar - Florida’s Solar Surge

The Sunshine State is outpacing the Golden State in new solar power, and it’s not just a flash in the pan. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Two sides to the story. There's only one side to
the facts. Welcome to the Brian Mud Show and thank
you for listening. A new number one four solar as
we take a look at Florida's solar surge and yeah,
so the Sunshine State is now the leading solar state.
Quietly over the past year, Florida accomplished something you might

(00:27):
not expect. Florida, we're stealing California's thunder in the solar
game for the first time in record. We are out
pacing the Golden State and new solar power. And it's
not just something that's going to be a flash of
the pan. It looks like there's going to be sustainability
to this. So Florida solar boom. Talking about this a
whole bit. We added over three gigawatts of utility scale solar.

(00:50):
You're like, what is that, Well, it's more power than
California out of last year. But it's also enough to
power seven hundred and fifty thousand, eight hundred and ninety
and homes across the state. And FBL led the charge,
building seventy percent of these states new solar over the
past year. This isn't about rooftop panels got big utility

(01:11):
projects that are pushing this growth. The far more efficient
path for this, by the way, as well, FPL's thirty
by thirty plan now in year six been a huge
success from their perspective, and it's currently running way ahead
of schedule now for you means actually cheaper electricity likely
on the way because solar has become a much more

(01:36):
cost efficient way providing power. That is actually what's driving
the growth and probably why FPL is moving faster than
they had even anticipated. So the economics of energy conversion
taking a look at this, solar has consistently been cheaper
than natural gas over the past year, and it also
proved to be pretty successful during storm seasons too. You

(01:56):
go back to Hurricane e and in twenty twenty two,
places like Bad Branch Power Town proved that it works
during Hurricane Ian. The microgrid kept the lights on while
others went dark, and that kind of proof of concept
let a greater confidence about this solar build out. FPL
has also had success with their solar plans holding up
against hurricanes over the past couple of years. So when

(02:17):
you take a look at it coming out last year,
over seven percent now of all energy provided within the
state derived from solar power, with increases coming much more quickly. Also,
every indication that recent trends will continue, meaning for it
is likely to continue to lead the way with solar
adaptation for the foreseeable future. And as we've seen the
far more efficient path for scaling solar through the utilities

(02:38):
as opposed to rooftop solar with the federal government rolling
back the credits as part of the one big, potentially
esthetically placing bill. Well, that has a lot to do
with the utilities leading the way going forward too.

Speaker 2 (02:53):
We're in the part of the year in the northern
hemisphere when the daytime gets progressively shorter leading to the
winter solstice in December. But a group of scientists say
today will be the shortest overall day of the year,
and perhaps the shortest day we've had in a very
long time. The website timeandate dot com says that due
to an inexplicable speeding up of Earth's rotation, today will

(03:17):
be less than twenty four hours long. Now, in case
you think you need to make plans to speed up
your chores, leave work early, or get less sleep, don't panic.
Earth will complete its daily rotation just a millisecond and
a quarter sooner than twenty four hours, chances are you
won't even notice.

Speaker 1 (03:36):
Yeah, so why Evan Brown? There? Fox is Evan Brown.
I may notice then, millisecond.

Speaker 2 (03:41):
Yes, I may have to leave early