Sunshine state shuns solar as overcast New York basks in clean energy boom

Despite its natural advantages, disincentives mean Florida has few solar panels but the Empire state's policies have boosted installed solar capacity by 800%

If you were to fly a camera-laden drone several hundred feet above Pani Herath's house in south Miami, Florida, it would become clear his rooftop is an oddity compared with virtually all of his neighbors. Despite living in a part of the world that bakes in the sun throughout the year, just a few thousand people across Florida, such as Herath, have installed solar panels.

"Unfortunately, not many people know about solar. That's why nobody around here has solar at all," said Herath. He has become an object of curiosity in his tidy neighborhood, where watering the manicured lawn and scooping debris from the pool is of greater concern.