Big consumer brands solar lack installations in South Florida

South Florida Business Journal by Kevin Gale, Editor in Chief

Date: Friday, September 14, 2012, 2:53pm EDT - Last Modified: Friday, September 14, 2012, 3:18pm EDT

Major solar users haven't zeroed in on South Florida, a research report shows.

The Solar Energy Industries Association has a graphic showing where the top 20 commercial solar users have installations, but there's nothing in South Florida.

The study lists a lot of major retailers, including Wal-Mart Stores, Walgreens, Costco, Kohl's, IKEA, Macy's and Staples, plus consumer brands such as McGraw-Hill, Johnson & Johnson, Campbell's Soup, General Motors and Crayola.

The map seems somewhat odd, given that we're in the Sunshine State and Juno Beach-based NextEra Energy (NYSE: NEE) is the nation's largest producer of solar power.

"The thing about what is on the map is just the instllations from the top companies, so that doen't necessarily reflect on the amount of solar in the state," SEIA spokeswoman Jamie Nolan said. "There is plenty of solar in Florida, but it was sort of weird how it shook out with the top compaies. I was sort of surprised how many there were in Ohio."

Florida ranks 18th nationally in photovoltaic installations, an earlier study found.

TD Bank built a zero-emissions branch with solar in Fort Lauderdale's Cypress Creek area, but the bank was not listed among the top 20 by the SEIA.

The installations at the top 20 companies produce about $47.3 million worth of electricity a year.

Wal-Mart was, by far, the largest in solar capacity, with 65,000 kilowatts; followed by Costco, at 38,900. Wal-Mart aslo led in number of systems, at 144, followed by Walgreens, at 134.

Click here to see a slideshow of the top 20 by the Phoenix Business Journal.

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