Solar and battery storage in Tampa, Florida

What is specific to Tampa

Your utility: Tampa Electric

Tampa Electric is an investor-owned utility and its net-metering programme is governed by Florida PSC Rule 25-6.065, including the tier structure and the requirement that a system is not expected to produce more than 115% of the home’s annual consumption.

How production changes across the year in Tampa

Modelled output for Tampa peaks in May at 151.7 kWh per kW installed and bottoms out in December at 109.1 kWh — a spread of 28% between the best and worst months. Averaged across meteorological winter, output runs about 7% 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 Tampa 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.