Solar and battery storage in St. Petersburg, Florida

What is specific to St. Petersburg

Your utility: Duke Energy Florida

Duke Energy Florida is an investor-owned utility, so its customer-owned renewable generation programme operates under Florida PSC Rule 25-6.065. The same tier structure and the 115% annual-consumption sizing limit apply, and excess exported energy accrues as a kWh credit that is settled annually at an avoided-cost rate.

How production changes across the year in St. Petersburg

Modelled output for St. Petersburg peaks in May at 160.3 kWh per kW installed and bottoms out in December at 115.5 kWh — a spread of 28% between the best and worst months. Averaged across meteorological winter, output runs about 10% 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 St. Petersburg 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.