Hawaiian Electric Co. submitted final plans to state regulators Tuesday seeking to make $205 million in upgrades to its energy systems on Oahu and Hawaii island and in Maui County over the next six years.
In the plan submitted to the Public Utilities Commission, Hawaii’s largest electrical utility said it intends to upgrade its grid by:
>> Adding smart meters in specific neighborhoods where there are high numbers of rooftop solar energy systems. These can provide details about homes’ electricity use and can be accessed by the utility. Smart meters also would be installed at the homes of customers who want to participate in new programs such as demand response, which encourages customers to use electricity when more renewable energy is on the grid; or time-of-use, a program where customers are charged three different rates throughout the day instead of one flat rate.
>> Using advanced inverters — devices that make the electricity created by the solar system safe for household appliances — to support more rooftop solar adoption. HECO’s plan said advanced inverters can automatically disconnect when there are problems with voltage. Some upgraded inverters can be remotely controlled to turn off a solar system.
>> Expanding the use of sensors at other points on neighborhood circuits as well as automated controls and battery storage at substations.
>> Upgrading outage management and notification technology.
“Modernizing the electric grid will help get Hawaii off imported oil faster, use technology to predict and identify outages and to restore service more quickly, and give customers more information and more control over the energy they use,” HECO said in its filing.
The plan did not include specific numbers as to how many inverters, sensors and smart meters the utility plans to deploy.
This is the second grid modernization plan the utility has submitted to the PUC, as the panel sent HECO back to the drawing board in January for its original $340 million plan to roll out a smart grid statewide because of concerns with the cost and lack of details. The smart-grid plan HECO filed in March 2016 included a wireless communication network, smart meters and enhanced technology that would upgrade the existing electric grid to be more automated and energy-efficient.
Tuesday’s filing comes after the utility held public meetings about a draft of the plan that it submitted to the PUC in July. HECO spokeswoman Shannon Tangonan said the utility added details to its grid modernization road map after holding public hearings. The public meetings did not lead to any substantial changes to the technology, pace or price of the plan.
HECO said these upgrades will increase reliability of service and help add more solar onto the grids across its three service territories.
Isaac Moriwake, attorney at Earthjustice, said the grid modernization plan should extend beyond rooftop solar.
“While rooftop solar is a big challenge facing (HECO), the benefits of grid modernization should be extended to all customers, including those who can’t install rooftop solar,” Moriwake said. “For example, HECO proposes advanced meters mostly just for customers who install solar and batteries. But all customers could benefit from meters that give them information on how they can save.”
