A pivotal piece of Orange County history could put a free shine on someone’s future.

That’s the deal of the “Great Solar Giveaway 2024” event.

Some 5,808 partly used solar panels belonging to the county, each 2.6 feet by 5.2 feet, 33 pounds and rated at 175 watts, are to be handed out from February 26 through March 31 at no charge to residents, businesses and whoever else wants them.

Anybody anywhere qualifies to pick up one, two, dozens or hundreds.

What to do with the panels is up to the taker – charging batteries, powering lights or running a water pump are some of the possibilities – with operating requirements and instructions available via Google, YouTube and other DIY resources.

“This may be the first time this has ever been done,” Clayton Ferrara, chief executive officer of IDEAS For Us, which describes itself as an Orlando-based global incubator for local eco-action projects and is the Great Solar Giveaway organizer. “The response we’ve had has been really favorable.”

The panels are being unbolted from the top of the Orange County Convention Center, making way for refurbishing a portion of the massive edifice’s roof.

They were installed nearly 15 years ago in a solar array rated to generate a peak of 1 megawatt of electricity.

That’s not huge. It wasn’t enough then to supply 10 percent of the convention center’s appetite and today could run roughly 150 Florida homes.

But the center’s solar system was meant to be a ray of inspiration for the Sunshine State, still mucking around in the dark ages of developing solar as a fundamental energy source.

Just a decade ago, solar energy was pricey for utilities, said Jim Fenton, University of Central Florida’s Florida Solar Energy Center. “Now, it’s the cheapest,” he said. “Costs have come down substantially.”

With the expense of solar tumbling, major power providers have put up dozens of solar energy plants in Florida on rural tracts typically of several hundred acres, equipped with hundreds of thousands of panels and generating as much as 75 megawatts.

Many solar proponents argue that tremendous opportunity remains significantly untouched – the roofs of homes, businesses and government buildings.

Recently, the consumer review company, ConsumerAffairs, gave Florida a rank of 34th among states for progress with rooftop solar. It said the low spot is “partly due to government and utility efforts to curb residential solar incentives.”

In that light, the convention center solar system will continue as a beacon of motivation.

The rooftop system installed in 2009 for $7 million was paid for as a demonstration project by the county, Orlando Utilities Commission and the state of Florida.

After the center’s reroofing job is complete, a new solar system will be installed next year with the same number of panels and within the same footprint, but putting out twice as much power and costing $2 million less than the original system. Solar performance has improved dramatically.

Ferrara of IDEAS For Us said the old panels are a little past the halfway point of their lifespan and in ideal circumstances may be worth about $75 each.

But the reality is that the nearly 6,000 panels aren’t all that suitable for conventional rooftop solar, considering their age and the price of installation, and would otherwise be destined for a landfill.

Dumping 100 tons of panels is exactly what IDEAS For Us wants to prevent.

To sign up to get panels, go to ideasforus.org/solargiveaway/

Fill out their form, agree to terms and IDEAS For Us will send an EventBrite link with the time and place for picking panels. Wear gloves, Ferrara said.

“There are so many creative things being done with solar that we really feel that people in the community will be able to do some cool stuff,” Ferrara said. “They can run pumps for gardens with rain barrels, power floodlights on a property or driveway, charge laptops or cell phones in the middle of nowhere. It’s a free source of energy off the grid.”

The quest to find new life for the panels started in part with one of the group’s board members, Jeff Benavides, who previously worked as Orange County’s sustainability officer. He knew all about the convention center solar panels and their potential fate.

IDEAS For Us brainstormed and initially pondered sending the panels to needy recipients around the world. Shipping costs proved prohibitive.

Next up was the idea for the Great Solar Giveaway 2024.

That’s what the group does – ideas, a lot of them.

On April 17 at Mead Botanical Garden, the annual IDEAS For Us fundraiser will showcase last year’s brainstorming. Learn more at ideasforus.org/solutionsshowcase/