Florida’s popular solar rebate program may sunset

After four years of successfully spurring investment in solar energy, Florida’s solar rebate program is facing its final sunset.

The popular program, which paid homeowners up to $20,000 and businesses up to $100,000 for installing electricity-producing solar photovoltaic systems, is another victim of Florida’s budget crunch.

“We have a $3 billion budget deficit,” explained state Rep. Adam Hasner, R-Delray Beach, the House majority leader.

The rebate program, which handed out $14.4 million last year, was left out of the budget bill heading to the House and Senate for a vote on April 30. In an e-mail, Gov. Charlie Crist’s spokesman, Sterling Ivey, did not indicate that Crist, often called a green energy supporter, would veto the bill for failing to finance the program.

“The governor will review the entire and complete budget, once it is passed by the Legislature, and make appropriate veto decisions at that time,” Ivey wrote.

Crist had asked the Legislature to give the rebate program $10 million next year, he noted.

Hasner, a solar advocate, said legislators, already chopping into bone, had to protect critical state services from further cuts.

Read the full story in the South Florida Business Journal.