Solar

Home solar in Florida

What a system can produce, what Florida rules let you size it to, and what actually decides the cost.

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How does home solar work in Florida?

Panels on your roof generate direct current, an inverter converts it to the alternating current your home uses, and anything you do not consume immediately is exported to the grid. Under net metering those exports become credits that offset what you draw later. Systems are sized to your consumption — not to your roof or your budget — because Florida rules cap a net-metered system at 115% of your annual usage.

At a glance

Sized from
Your annual kWh consumption
Sizing ceiling
115% of annual consumption
Florida Public Service Commission
Simplest interconnection tier
10 kW or less
Florida Public Service Commission
During a power outage
Produces nothing without a battery

Last verified August 16, 2026

How a system is sized

Sizing starts with consumption, not roof area. You take your annual kilowatt-hours, apply the regulatory ceiling of 115%, and that gives the maximum annual production a net-metered system should be designed for. Converting that into kilowatts requires a production model for your specific location, orientation and shading.

What net metering does to the economics

Production peaks at midday and consumption peaks in the evening. Net metering resolves that mismatch by letting exported kilowatt-hours offset imported ones. Within the year the offset is effectively at retail value. Credit left unused at the annual settlement is bought out at avoided cost, which is well below retail — which is precisely why oversizing is poor economics rather than free insurance.

What changes your installed price

  • System size, since fixed costs spread further across a larger array.
  • Roof type and complexity. Tile costs more to work on than shingle, and multiple planes add labour.
  • Electrical panel condition, which is the most common source of unexpected cost.
  • Equipment choice, which affects both price and production.
  • Florida wind-load engineering and permitting, and stricter requirements again in the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone.
  • Whether you pay cash or finance, since those are frequently different prices for the same system.

What solar does not do

A grid-tied system shuts down during an outage, even in full sun, because of anti-islanding protection required for line-worker safety. If keeping power on matters to you, that is a storage decision and it should be priced separately.

Start from your own usage

Enter your annual kilowatt-hours and see what the verified data supports for your home.

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Common questions

How long do solar panels last?

Modules are typically warranted for production over 25 years and generally keep producing beyond it at gradually reduced output. Inverters usually have shorter warranties and are the component most likely to need replacing within the system’s life.

Do I need to replace my roof first?

If it has less remaining life than the solar system, yes. Removing and reinstalling an array to re-roof later is a substantial avoidable cost, and in Florida a storm can force the timing on you.

What happens if I sell the house?

An owned system generally transfers with the property. A leased system or power purchase agreement involves assigning the agreement to the buyer, which is a more involved conversation and worth understanding before you sign either.

Sources

What each source supports on this page, and when we last verified it. Every source we use, with its freshness policy, is listed in the source register.

  1. Florida Administrative Code Rule 25-6.065, Interconnection and Metering of Customer-Owned Renewable Generation

    Florida Public Service Commission

    Net-metering eligibility, interconnection tiers and system-sizing limits for customers of Florida investor-owned utilities.

    Verified August 16, 2026

  2. One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Public Law 119-21 (enacted 4 July 2025)

    United States Congress

    Termination of the §25D Residential Clean Energy Credit for expenditures made after 31 December 2025.

    Verified August 16, 2026 · Primary text not reachable from the build environment; status corroborated across multiple independent tax and legislative summaries citing the public law. Flagged for primary confirmation.

  3. Florida Building Code — high-velocity hurricane zone and wind-borne debris provisions

    Florida Building Commission

    Wind-load and permitting requirements applying to rooftop solar installations in Florida, including the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

    Verified August 16, 2026

  4. PVWatts® Calculator v8 API

    National Renewable Energy Laboratory

    Modelled annual AC energy production for a given location, tilt, azimuth and loss assumption.

    Verified August 17, 2026 · Production values not yet ingested in this environment. See scripts/ingest-solar-resource.ts. NREL became the National Laboratory of the Rockies and retired nrel.gov on 29 May 2026; this API now lives on developer.nlr.gov, per https://developer.nlr.gov/docs/nlr-domain-transition/. The organisation name is kept as "National Renewable Energy Laboratory" because that is how the PVWatts model is cited in the literature.

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