Calling a Power Company on Its Shenanigans

Florida Power and Light - NextEra Energy is now about to be more anti-competitive, and rate payers are going to feel it.

In other markets, that are not cornered by the incumbent utility, the path to solar project developments is made economically attractive in multiple ways. One such way includes LSE's (Load Serving Entities) paying an ACP (Alternative Compliance Payment) that basically mandates that for every unit of emissions the LSE produces, they owe $X amount. Its governance is different by jurisdiction, however the one thing that all utilities have in common is that in their generation mix they usually emit C02 somewhere and are thus obligated to pay into the fund.

FPL's president is now stating that "Nobody is going to want to put money in a project where there's no path to cost recovery, it does not pay today but I believe over time if we don't address [lowering greenhouse gas emissions], you're going to end up paying a higher cost".

He's talking to you, the rate payer, not me, the solar project developer. If you--the rate payer are ready to prop up this monopoly in the name of renewable energy that's great! Its all fine and dandy, but its a free market--right? Where there is competition there are lower prices, right?

He continued, "We should be able to compete in that space as well as anybody else and frankly, make money at. I'm not afraid. It will be more competitive but we operate in other states where it is competitive and we've proven that we can compete."

Yes. What he means is that the entrenched lobbyists have gained special exemptions that allow them to develop projects while they also write the rules. An example is that 25 Megawatt array in DeSoto county Florida which I toured in March. The back story is that the land was to be used for a nuclear plant--but met opposition from residents, and the proposed technology (at the time) was a threat to wetlands.

No problem--for FPL, just amend the future land use to designate the zoning as EGF (Electrical Generating Facility)--specifically for solar, build it on land zoned agricultural--which eventually sunsets to EGF--and build away!

Of the 11 issues Mr. Olivera is handling before the Florida Public Service Commission he states "There is a whole range of things that can happen that may not necessarily be good for our customers or for our company, what we're asking for is ... fair treatment."

Us too, Mr. Olivera, us too.