Solar and battery storage in Jacksonville, Florida

What is specific to Jacksonville

Your utility: JEA

JEA is a municipal utility owned by the City of Jacksonville. Florida PSC Rule 25-6.065 governs investor-owned utilities, so it does not set JEA’s terms. JEA runs its own interconnection and net-metering programme, and its sizing limits, credit treatment and programme capacity can differ from the investor-owned utilities elsewhere in Florida. Check JEA’s current programme terms before sizing a system in Jacksonville.

How production changes across the year in Jacksonville

Modelled output for Jacksonville peaks in May at 146.2 kWh per kW installed and bottoms out in December at 92.4 kWh — a spread of 37% between the best and worst months. Averaged across meteorological winter, output runs about 23% below the summer average. Peak output falls in a spring month rather than midsummer, which is what the model shows for every Florida location covered here.

Where to start

The three questions worth settling before you talk to an installer in Jacksonville are what you are trying to achieve, how much electricity you actually use, and how much life your roof has left. Everything else follows from those.

1. 1

   Decide whether this is about the bill or about outages

   Solar reduces what you buy. Storage changes what happens when the grid goes down. They are different purchases with different justifications, and bundling them obscures that.

2. 2

   Find your annual kilowatt-hours

   Not your bill amount — your consumption. Florida usage swings hard between winter and summer, so use twelve months rather than one.

3. 3

   Assess the roof honestly

   If it is near the end of its life, replace it first. Removing and reinstalling an array later is pure avoidable cost.