But the Sarasota inventor of ‘solar on wheels’ faces political roadblocks.
By Noah Vinsky
Original Air Date: October 18, 2024
Host: A solar entrepreneur in Sarasota is proud about how her devices held up during and after the storm. And she’s up in arms about the obstacles Florida is throwing her way. Noah Vinsky plugs you in.
Erika Ginsberg-Klemmt
Noah Vinsky: Sarasota’s Erika Ginsberg-Klemmt describes her invention as “solar on wheels.” It’s a mobile electricity generating appliance, or MEGA, for short, she helped develop in 2021 with her daughter and her husband. It’s capable of charging cars and buildings, and can withstand hurricane force winds. Ginsberg-Klemmt said the MEGA kept the power on for her house and her neighbor’s house, even while deployed during Hurricane Milton. It’s a product that she says she sells for 17,000 dollars, but regulatory and permitting challenges from Sarasota County and Florida Power & Light prevent her from expanding the reach of her devices.
Erika Ginsberg-Klemmt: You see, Florida Power and Light is a monopoly. It is a vertically integrated monopoly and has full control over PUC, The Public Utilities Commission up in Tallahassee, et cetera. Sadly, Florida is a sunny place for shady people, and it is not a place that we are going to be making regulatory head roads anytime soon.
NV: She says that there is no permitting process for mobile power generation, and no guarantee one would be able to land an interconnection agreement with the utility company. Regulations prevent individuals from deploying even their own sources of power.
We reached out to FPL and Sarasota County but did not get a response before deadline. She attributes these obstacles to a reliance on fossil fuels and the power of the utility monopolies.
EGK: Because the way that the regulatory world works for electricity is, if it’s not implicitly allowed, then it’s prohibited. So that’s very good for innovation, right? That’s especially good for making sure that we are quickly getting off of our fossil fuels. It doesn’t matter that we have PhDs across the nation verifying that this is just as safe as any other solar installation that you can have.
NV: Ginsberg-Klemmt says that FPL considers anyone who generates more than ten-percent of the power that they consume competition. Change, she says, is something that will
not happen overnight. Despite the frustration, she says there are voices across the country also striving for energy independence.
EGK: The beauty of connectivity and networking capabilities today and with all of the accelerators and incubators and coalitions and symposiums, I have met dozens of incredible activists and warriors.
NV: This has been Noah Vinsky for WSLR News.
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