2 isles set to join Maui in reaching ‘grid supply’ cap
STAR-ADVERTISER / OCT. 2015
An electrical apprentice installed solar panels on the roof of a Kailua home on Oct. 7.
Oahu and the Big Island are closing in on the total capacity the state allows for residential solar systems that can export excess power to the grid and receive credit.
Oahu is at 70 percent of its total limit, and the Big Island is at 70.6 percent, according to Hawaiian Electric Co. numbers released last week.
Meanwhile, solar applicants on Maui hit the limit in June. Maui Electric Co. said in June it stopped approving the solar systems because the county hit the 5-megawatt cap regulators placed on the program. Maui is at 99 percent of its cap, according to Marco Mangelsdorf, president of ProVision Solar Inc.
The cap comes from a Public Utilities Commission ruling in October. Last fall the PUC replaced a popular solar incentive, known as net energy metering, with a new “grid supply” system and put a 35-megawatt cap on the new program. The grid-supply program credits solar energy customers about 8 cents less per kilowatt-hour than the full retail rate paid under net energy metering.
The cap breaks down to 25 megawatts on Oahu and 5 megawatts each for Maui County (which includes Molokai and Lanai) and the Big Island.
Maui County residents who want to install new solar systems now have to buy batteries to hold any excess power generated by the panels. The only program Maui residents can apply for allows solar owners to draw power from the grid when needed but prevents them from sending additional power to the grid. The solar-plus-battery systems are called “self-supply.”
Both Oahu and the Big Island have jumped 10 percentage points closer to the cap since the last report was filed.
Colin Yost, principal at RevoluSun, said unless the PUC increases the limit, Oahu will likely run out of room by September.
“From the pace of grid supply submissions on Oahu, it looks likely the cap will be reached by the end of August, unless it is raised by the PUC,” Yost said.
In May Yost and a coalition of solar energy groups asked state regulators to increase the limit on excess power that photovoltaic systems are allowed to send to the grid. The Hawaii PV Coalition, the Hawaii Solar Energy Association, Sunpower Corp. and the Alliance for Solar Choice said they will likely fill any remaining capacity on all islands by the end of the summer.
9 responses to “2 isles set to join Maui in reaching ‘grid supply’ cap”
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Once batteries start coming down in price and becoming the norm, hopefully we will see the end of HECO and its ilk.
Oh, except Hawaii’s politicians, who are bought and paid for by HECO, will simply enact new taxes to keep HECO running, even if nobody is using the grid. So the public will still pay. That’s Hawaii for you.
Agree.
I’m wondering why the State under Gov. Ige is not promoting a financial programs to help people to purchase and finance affordable battery systems.
Please see my second post for the answer. 🙂
There is a difficult issue of fairness here. There are some people who cannot install solar, so the net benefit of adding solar may be a plus for the ones installing solar; however, those who cannot install will pay for the credit received by those who do install, PLUS the ones stuck on the grid will be part of a decreasing group paying for the cost of electricity from the grid and the growing cost of HECO having to stabilize the ups and downs of solar power generation. This situation also extends to those with solar who for technical reasons have systems which cannot be connected to the grid to contribute power. It will require that HECO install smart meters and batteries of its own– a benefit for those on the grid and those off the grid who would otherwise be cut off from power from the grid when solar power drops due to cloudy weather, for example.
It is such a joke the way MECO cries about the mill closing its doors and having to fold its energy generation program so they can buy power during high demand periods at a highly discounted price. They then turn around and sell it at full price to the public and now close the solar program to the public claiming they have too much power! One giant SCAM backed by local politicians to stifle the public…AGAIN! We arent too far from having battery technology affordable and available to basically put HECO very close to being out of business. And if the politicians even have an urge to stop that, watch the law suits pour in faster than the rail can be finished!
Huge house in Kailua.
cali approved net metering and does not have this cap. If we are going to achieve % renewable gotta get the roof tops into action going both ways.