
A small Tampa solar startup, alarmed by the scrouge of climate change, issued a call to action Monday for the state’s utility companies, local governments and municipalities, home builders, HOAs and residents to reassess current infrastructure following a wave of devastating hurricanes.
Streetleaf, which specializes in solar-powered infrastructure, said it is spearheading the launch of Shine On Florida, an initiative to strengthen local communities against the escalating danger of climate change and hurricanes in particular. A coordinated effort not only offers a practical solution to improve community safety but lay the groundwork for smarter infrastructure during severe events, the company said.
Under the initiative, Streetleaf is encouraging potential partners to provide a bid for their street and area lighting projects this year. Streetleaf has pledged to install the streetlights within three months of any signed contract in Florida in 2025, and any lights that are purchased before April 1 will be installed prior to the start of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season (typically June 1 to Nov. 30).
Last year, two high-impact hurricanes blasted Florida within a month. More than 3.3 million Floridians were left in the dark without power when Hurricane Milton hit in October, less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene (more than 3.7 million outages throughout the Southeast, including 527,945 in Florida).
“Why this is important is our lights stay on in communities that lose access to the power grid, and this unfortunately is happening more often with more powerful hurricanes,” company CEO Liam Ryan said in an interview. When residents of Polk County were hit by Hurricane Milton last year, for instance, they relied on Streetleaf’s lights to picnic in the dark despite a major outage in the area.
Such scenarios are likely to only increase in scope as Florida copes with more Category 4 hurricanes. Milton was the fifth hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. this year, packing with it greater flood and wind risks as ocean temperatures rise. “The frequency of intense storms will increase,” Ning Lin, a climate scientist at Princeton University and lead author of a recent study on tropical cycle hazards along the East and Gulf coasts, told NPR.
The threat of hurricane-caused power outages could rise 50% in parts of the U.S. in the next decade because of climate change, according to a recent analysis. Another study found rising sea levels will expose more than 1,600 critical infrastructures such as power plants and electrical substations to “disruptive tides” and flooding along U.S. coasts.
The maker of more than 8,000 solar-powered street lights nationwide, a majority of them in Florida, Streetleaf was born out of a master community, Epperson, in Wesley Chapel, Fla., in 2019. The company’s current customers include Tampa Electric, Manatee County (Fla.), and major home builder D.R. Horton Inc.
Streetleaf’s lights are IoT smart devices connected to a remote monitoring dashboard. They can identify potential problems before a power outage occurs, identify current outages without the need for customer reporting, and provide remote control of brightness settings. The solar-powered lights can be installed in communities without existing infrastructure, and customers receive service, support and tools.
Companies like Streetleaf are exploring ways to preserve the power grid and basic infrastructure necessities as intense hurricanes grow in frequency. BlockEnergy, also based in Florida, has developed an advanced community energy system that combines rooftop solar with local battery energy storage. It claims to be the first distributed renewable energy platform for new communities of all sizes.
Others, like Scenic America are leaders in undergrounding of utility lines to mitigate risks from hurricanes, wildfires and ice storms.
In recent years, utility-scale solar generation has increased seven times in 2023 from 2020, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Offshore wind also presents opportunities. The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Management awarded a development lease in August 2023, adding up to 1.2 gigawatts of capacity, for a Gulf of Mexico wind auction near Lake Charles, La. However, President Donald Trump issued an executive order last week that put a stop on offshore wind leasing while ordering a review of existing leases.
“Shine on Florida represents a proactive approach to strengthening our communities. Florida faces unique challenges, and Streetleaf is here and ready to offer a solution that not only meets those challenges but sets a new standard for community resilience,” Ryan said.