Expect little change in direction of the state’s business-recruitment agency under its new management. Pete Antonacci, a former general counsel for Gov. Rick Scott who was appointed last month as president and CEO of Enterprise Florida, said Monday he intends to maintain the goals of the agency’s board, which is chaired by the governor.
Voters in sun-bathed Florida will face a decision Tuesday that could weigh heavily on the use — and cost — of solar power in the state. The solar power industry is opposed to Amendment 1, a proposal to amend the state constitution that will appear on the ballot as “Florida Solar Energy Subsidies and Personal Solar Use Initiative.” Utilities — including Florida Power & Light Co. — have spent upward of $20 million trying to get the amendment on the…
Consider the eye-grabbing Tampa Bay Times’ front-page headline Wednesday: $43M spent to limit solar. Beyond the silliness of assuming that every dollar utilities donated this cycle is part of a plot to fight rooftop solar — as if there is nothing else they care about — the story is screwed up six ways to Sunday. If a politician were to use these numbers, PolitiFact would rate them somewhere in the range of Mostly False to Pants on Fire. Let’s start from the top: “Lost…
In the Aug. 30 primary, Florida voters made it unmistakably clear how they feel about solar energy. Nearly 73 percent of them voted to approve an amendment providing a tax break for businesses that convert to solar power. That was just what backers of clean energy in Florida wanted, of course. Now they have a new request for voters: When Amendment 1, otherwise known as Florida Solar Energy Subsidies and Personal Solar Use Initiative, comes up in November, those same…
While city officials play those favored political parlor games of finger-pointing and pass-the-blame, thousands of residents remain without power. That’s all we ought to care about now. There are reports of price gouging. Large trees are down all over the city. People are steaming as they wonder about the competence of the power they have elected to office. Yes, folks, that is life in Tallahassee as residents there try to cope with the aftermath of Hurricane Hermine. This Category 1…
Florida-based business law firm Gunster, joined by a group of energy industry leaders, this week hosted its inaugural Women in Energy Leadership Forum. The event, held at the Orlando World Center Marriott in Orlando, brought together women and men from across the state for two days of keynote addresses and panel discussions about relevant issues facing Florida’s energy industry. Among the attendees were thought-leaders, stakeholders, industry executives and college students gathered for an engaging dialogue about the state of the…
At the site of the future Manatee Solar Energy Center in Parrish, Florida Power & Light executives, environmentalists, state and local officials cheered as a groundbreaking ceremony significantly changed the dynamics of solar power in the Sunshine State. At 10:50 a.m. Thursday, FPL President and CEO Eric Silagy and Agricultural Commissioner Adam Putnam flipped the switches on dual Tuchi pile drivers to start the next phase of a 10-plus-year vision for innovation by the Sunshine State’s largest energy provider. The…
