Solar and battery storage in Sarasota, Florida

What is specific to Sarasota

Your utility: Florida Power & Light

As an investor-owned utility, FPL offers net metering under Florida PSC Rule 25-6.065. A customer-owned renewable system must be sized so that it is not expected to produce more than 115% of the home’s annual consumption, and the rule also limits generating capacity relative to the service capacity. Exported energy is tracked as a kWh credit that offsets later consumption, with any remaining credit settled annually at the utility’s avoided-cost rate rather than the retail rate.

How production changes across the year in Sarasota

Modelled output for Sarasota peaks in May at 156.7 kWh per kW installed and bottoms out in December at 111.7 kWh — a spread of 29% between the best and worst months. Averaged across meteorological winter, output runs about 9% 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 Sarasota 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.