Impact Analysis of Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) in Florida
October 19, 2020
This report details a comprehensive economic and environmental impact study for legalizing power purchase agreements (PPAs) in the State of Florida, as conducted by researchers at the University of Central Florida (UCF) and Ohio University (OU), and as supported by Solar United Neighbors (SUN). As PPAs continue to grow and help deploy more solar energy across the United States (U.S.), SUN, a national nonprofit organization that helps people go solar, join together, and fight for their energy rights, has had a growing interest in better understanding the potential impacts that PPAs could bring to Florida. Subsequently, the research team conducted a thorough review of state PPA policies, profiled case studies for a municipality, a church, and a school district, and then calculated the prospective economic and environmental impacts of adding new solar energy to the grid if Florida were to enable this mechanism. For this latter phase, our research team focused on three prospective solar deployment scenarios: a “low” scenario (1.2 gigawatts (GW)), a “moderate” scenario (1.6 GW), and a “high” scenario (2.0 GW). Finally, we completed solar production calculations to better discern the amount of electricity that could be produced across the three scenarios, as well as the number of homes powered, greenhouse gases (GHGs) mitigated, and the equivalent number of Florida cars taken off of the road.