If you’ve been following the ongoing saga about fake Florida solar panels manufactured and sold by Advanced Solar Photonics, Blue Chip Energy, now called Sfinkx – you’re probably as irate as we are.

 

If you’re not familiar with the scandal, here’s some recommended reading:

 

Solar Panel Fraud in Florida – What Becomes of Advanced Solar Photonics, Blue Chip Energy and Sfinkx Now?

Orlando-based ASP Solar Panel Fraud – FPL Soon to Notify Home Owners)

You may be asking yourself,

 

“How could something like this happen?  Aren’t there protections in place?  Aren’t there oversight agencies that are supposed to prevent things like this?”

 

Well – as a matter of fact, there are protections in place.  In 1975 the Florida legislature created the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) to:

 

“

[S]erve as the state’s energy research institute. The main responsibilities of the center are to conduct research, test and certify solar systems and develop education programs.”

 

So what happened exactly?  Where was the FSEC during this meltdown and scam?

 

Less than an hour away.

 

That is correct. FSEC is literally a 50-minute drive from Advanced Solar Photonics aka Blue Chip Energy – the leading company(s) in the chain of fraudulent companies owned by corporate scam artist, Dmitri Nitkin.

 

And yet, FSEC – despite its proximity (and its very clear mandate) – actually certified these bogus solar panels.

 

Worse still, they did it with your taxpayer money.

 

FSEC receives no-bid public grant money to maintain its grip and unchallenged authority to test, seal, and certify all solar panels used in the great state of Florida.  Despite other agencies having better resources (and track records), FSEC’s monopoly on solar-related oversight seems impenetrable.

 

And they hide behind this invincibility with eloquent platitudes and empty statements:

 

 “As Florida’s energy research institute — with a 35-year history of unique expertise, experience and infrastructure — we are leading research and development efforts to bring our vision of Energy Independence to fruition.”

 

Perhaps the time has come to find another standard-bearer for Florida’s solar panel industry – one whose research methodologies don’t date back to the 1970s.

 

Perhaps the time has come to more closely examine those statues, rules, or legislation that gave exclusive rights to an organization who uses public monies to NOT sufficiently protect the public.

 

At the very least, shouldn’t we open up the competition a bit and allow other stakeholders to vie for these contracts?

 

Fortunately as citizens in the state of Florida we have the right and duty to challenge decade old legislation that gives sole source power to single entities that over time may lose their sight.  In this case the solar power industry has come a light year or two since 1975.

 

Even the suggestion of this may force Florida Solar Energy Center take notice and work a little harder with our taxpayer money.

 

We have big challenges with the Florida solar panel industry and it is time to treat FSEC’s glaucoma that has grown cloudier and cloudier with each passing decade.

 

Or if you’re one of the dozens of solar energy contractors or thousands customers who unwittingly purchased FSEC certified, fraudulent and mislabeled ASP Florida solar panels, maybe you’re not interested in giving FSEC a second chance.

 

I don’t blame you, because those of us at USSolar Institute will not either.

 

Originally Post on USSolarInstitute