From the desk
Notes for Central Florida homeowners
Shorter, dated pieces. Updated when the rules change — not left stale.
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Home EV Charging With Solar in Florida
Short version A home charger does not plug into the panels. It plugs into the house. The panels lower the electric bill for the kilowatt-hours the car uses, and only if the system is big enough and your utility credits those hours the way the sales sheet says. On Duke Energy Florida and Florida Power […]
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When the Roof Fails Under Solar Panels
Short version In a bad Florida hurricane the panels are often still in one piece when the roof under them is not. Age, a hidden leak, rot, or animals usually started that. The wind finishes it. If you own the system, a covered wind loss is usually part of the house claim, and the hurricane […]
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Squirrels, Birds, and Solar Panels
Short version The gap under a rooftop array is shade, cover, and a set of wires. In Central Florida that invites squirrels, roof rats, and birds in every month of the year, because there is no hard winter to push them off the roof. Squirrels and rats chew. Birds nest and leave droppings. Chewed wiring […]
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From Contract to Permission to Operate
Short version The day the crew is on the roof is the short part. After you sign, the job is a permit, an inspection, a utility application, and a meter that can count power in both directions. Florida Power & Light forbids you to run the system, except for testing, until that meter is in. […]
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How to Read a Solar Monitoring App
Short version The solar app and the power bill are not measuring the same thing. The app, when it is working, shows what the panels made. The utility meter shows what the house took from the grid and what it sent back. Power you used while the sun was up never passes through that meter, […]
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The Solar Sales Pitch: What They Leave Out
Short version A normal solar pitch in Florida is not always a scam. It is often a monthly payment, a chart, and a clock. What gets left out is the cash price, the fee buried in the loan, the fact that the 30 percent federal credit for a system you buy ended in 2025, the […]
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Solar Insurance for a Florida Home
Short version A home warranty is not solar insurance. The plans sold for the air conditioner and the appliances generally do not repair a solar array, and at least one major plan says its electrical coverage excludes direct-current wiring and components, which is what the panels are. Homeowners insurance is the policy that usually matters. […]
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When Solar Is a Bad Idea in Florida
Short version Skip solar in Florida when you will move before it pays back, when the roof should be replaced first, when shade or a small bill makes the savings tiny, when the only offer is a lease or a padded loan, when most of the power would be sold back at a weak rate, […]
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Clouds, Rain, and Solar Production in Florida
Short version Clouds cut solar production. Rain barely does, beyond the cloud that brought it. A thick Central Florida thunderstorm can drop the array to roughly a tenth to a third of its clear-sky rate while the cloud is overhead. A bright hazy day might only nick it. The annual estimate you were sold already […]
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How Solar Panels Attach to a Florida Roof
Short version The panels are not glued to the shingles. A flashed post or a metal-seam clamp is bolted into the roof structure, and the panels clamp to that. In Central Florida the easy roof is a sound architectural shingle. The cleanest attachment is a standing-seam metal roof, because the clamps grab the seam and […]
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Florida Solar Laws Every FL Homeowner Should Know
Short version Florida law stops a city or a homeowner association from banning solar collectors. It does not stop the building permit, the licensed contractor, or the utility. Duke Energy Florida and FPL still have to credit extra daytime power at retail inside the year. That rule was attacked in 2022 and survived a veto. […]
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Replacing a Solar Inverter in Florida
Short version Replacing a solar inverter in Central Florida is usually one of three jobs, and they are not the same price. A wall-mounted string inverter, swapped for a similar unit without touching the roof, is the small one. Published 2026 ranges for that job, parts and labor together, commonly fall around $1,500 to $3,500. […]
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Solar Inverters in Central Florida
Short version Panels make direct current. The house and the grid use alternating current. The inverter is the box that turns one into the other. A string inverter is one box for the whole array, often warrantied about 10 to 12 years, and it is the part you should budget to replace once. Microinverters sit […]
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Solar Water Heating in Central Florida
Short version A solar water heater makes hot water for showers, sinks, laundry, and the dishwasher. It is not a pool heater, and it is not the electric panels that power the house. Florida’s usual version is one or two glass-covered collectors on the roof, a pump, and a tank of about 80 gallons with […]
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Solar Pool Heating in Central Florida
Short version A solar pool heater is not a set of electric solar panels. It is black plastic collectors on the roof. Your pool pump pushes water through them, the sun warms that water, and it returns to the pool. In Central Florida the collector area is often about 80 percent of the pool’s surface, […]
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Home Battery Types in Florida
Short version In 2026 the home battery on a new Central Florida quote should be lithium iron phosphate (LFP). That is what is inside a Tesla Powerwall 3 and an Enphase IQ Battery 5P. Older packs, including the Powerwall 2, were often nickel manganese cobalt (NMC). They still work. They fade faster in heat and […]
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Solar Battery Maintenance in Florida Heat
Short version A modern home battery in Central Florida is not a car you change the oil on. There is no water to add and no cover to pop. The work you can do is the stuff around the box: shade, airflow, no sprinklers in the face, no wasp nest over the vents, and an […]
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Generator vs Battery Backup in Central Florida
Short version A battery keeps the fridge and lights on without fuel or noise. A standby generator keeps the central air on for days if you have gas. In Central Florida that is the real split, not “which is greener.” One 10 to 14 kilowatt-hour (kWh) battery is a day or two of essentials, a […]
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Solar Batteries in Central Florida
Short version A home battery in Central Florida in 2026 is mostly a hurricane product, not a way to beat Duke Energy Florida or Florida Power & Light (FPL) on the monthly bill. Those two still credit extra daytime solar at the full energy rate inside the year, so storing that kilowatt-hour (kWh) overnight does […]
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Duke vs FPL vs OUC: what an exported kilowatt-hour is actually worth
Short version Look at the logo on the bill first. Duke Energy Florida and FPL are investor-owned utilities. They still run classic 1-for-1 retail net metering under Florida PSC Rule 25-6.065: extra kWh bank at retail, leftover at calendar year-end cashes out at a cheap avoided-cost rate. OUC is a city utility. It is not […]