Tampa Bay Times

Despite the Legislature's suspicion toward the solar industry, photovoltaic technology can power a new statewide economic expansion.

Leaders in the Legislature, governing a state still in the doldrums, have routinely mocked the intermittency of solar electrical production.

Solar is a mature, reliable technology, though. The silicon solar cell, the basis of much of today's commercial and residential solar sales, was discovered in 1953. Germany, Europe's largest economy but a country not known for its sunshine, has made a big push for solar. The International Space Station is solar powered.