Gwen Graham spends a ‘workday’ helping to install solar panels

LUTZ — Democratic lieutenant governor candidate Gwen Graham spent part of her Thursday helping to install solar panels on the roof of a firefighter’s home in northern Hillsborough County.

It was the 63rd such “workday” of her career, when she does the jobs of everyday Floridians firsthand. It’s a tradition she inherited from her late father, Bob Graham, the former Florida governor and U.S. senator who performed similar events throughout his political career.

The former North Florida U.S. House member, now running mate to Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Jolly, said that doing such events helps her understand specific industries in the state and the challenges everyday Floridians face.

“I do this for many, many reasons,” she said. “To learn. To build relationships. And to be better informed on decisions I make in the future.”

The occasion also allowed her to put a focus on solar power, which generates approximately 8% of the energy powering homes in Florida, according to a 2026 report from the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC). Nearly 75% of the energy generated in Florida comes from natural gas. Another 11% comes from nuclear power, 3% from coal, 2% from purchases, and less than 1% from oil.

“Energy is a significant cost in people’s lives,” she said. “Using solar is a way to drive it down. Common sense. And it’s what we should be doing in the state of Florida significantly more than we are doing now.”

Graham said she was unaware of the recent comments by Republican gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds, who derided solar power as “a fad.”

“We’ve seen these solar arrays all over the state of Florida,” Donalds said during a campaign event in Daytona Beach Shores. “They’re taking land out of production and taking land off the interstate. We’ve seen how this has worked time and again. What happens very clearly is you have some power in the day, no power at night, when most people are using electricity anyway. And so it’s not consistent power.”

Graham said that response reminded her of Donalds’ comments at the Economic Club of Miami last year when he said, “We have actual land in our state that is still pristine, available to use,” in regard to data centers. (He now says it should be up to every local community in Florida to decide for itself whether such centers should be built).

The use of solar energy has increased in the United States in recent years due to the dramatic reduction in its costs. Solar panels that sold for $5 to $6 per watt around 2000 now cost about 12 cents per watt, according to Dave Ember, chief analyst and co-founder of a global energy think tank.

The rooftop solar industry in Florida and across the country received a body blow at the beginning of this year when language in President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act eliminated a 30% federal solar tax credit that had been in place for nearly two decades.

Steve Rutherford, president and founder of Tampa Bay Solar, said the immediate elimination of the federal tax subsidy has significantly damaged the rooftop solar panel industry.

“We’ve seen at least a 30% to 40% drop in business from last year and prior years,” he said ahead of leading Graham onto the roof of Hillsborough County resident Jason Turk’s home. Last year, approximately 400 rooftop solar companies were based in the state, he said, and that could be reduced to around 200 by the end of this year.

“It’s almost 40,000 people in the industry. Those jobs are not coming back,” he said.

Under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, the 30% tax credit rate was scheduled to remain in place until 2032, with a step-down schedule before expiring completely after 2034.

“We would have appreciated if they had phased it out,” Rutherford says of the legislation.

Tampa Bay Solar first installed solar panels on Turk’s house in the northern Hillsborough County town of Lutz eight years ago. Turk is now building a 1,000 square foot addition to his home for his mother to move in and getting new solar panels installed. After the upfront costs (aided by that 30% subsidy), the solar panels have reduced his monthly electricity bills in the summer from around $650 to $700 to $40, he said.

“It was the cost savings,” he said of why he was able to install the panels initially. “The 30% tax credit helped a ton.”

Graham said Thursday’s “workday” was unique for her in that it was the first time she had repeated an event, but that it was appropriate because she wanted to emphasize the importance of renewable energy sources.

Byron Donalds’ running mate, former GOP state Sen. Bryan Ávila, returned to the campaign trail this week. He was activated last week ahead of Hurricane Isaias as a captain in the Florida Army National Guard.