Hawaii is becoming a hotbed for smart-grid technology testing with a South Korean government agency becoming the fourth entity to set its sights on the state for such a project.
Authorities from the Republic of Korea’s Ministry of Knowledge and Economy and the country’s Smart Grid Institute have been meeting with Hawaii’s state Energy Office officials and expect to have a draft memorandum of understanding on the project by next week, according to Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz.
The Korean government, following in the footsteps of Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, has chosen Hawaii as a testing ground because the high concentration of wind and solar energy here make it an ideal location to test smart-grid and smart-meter technologies, which are designed in part to better manage energy use so more renewable energy can be used in electrical grids.
Schatz, who met with key South Korean officials during a recent trip to Asia, said the project is scheduled to be launched after the final MOU is signed at the Asia Pacific Clean Energy Summit to be held here in August.
In addition to the NEDO and Korean initiatives, Hawaii is hosting two other smart-grid projects: one funded partly by the U.S. Department of Energy and another being run by several private companies in the solar industry. In addition, the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative is pushing ahead with a full-scale smart-meter project.
"The upshot is that the idea of Hawaii as a test bed for clean energy technology is no longer just an idea, it’s really happening," Schatz said in an interview Thursday.
"And because we’ve made such progress and have such tremendous challenges, other countries are seeing Hawaii as an opportunity to test their technologies and to learn from our experiences," he said.
Details of the Korean project have not been finalized, however MKE officials are hoping information gathered in Hawaii will help them as they work toward implementing a smart-grid in South Korea by 2030.
An exact location for the South Korean project has not been decided. The other three initiatives are taking place on Maui.
Maui Electric Co. would like its customers to shift some of their energy consumption to off-peak hours when there is often surplus power being generated by the island’s 30-megawatt Kaheawa wind project near Maalaea. The project’s developer, Boston-based First Wind LLC, is nearing completion on a second phase that will add 21 megawatts of generating capacity at Kaheawa.
Also, San Diego-based Sempra U.S. Gas & Power LLC broke ground Friday on a wind project on the southeastern coast of Maui. Sempra officials said the project should be completed by late this year. When all three are running at the same time, they will have a combined generating capacity of 72 megawatts.
The $37 million NEDO project includes an electric vehicle component that officials say will provide them with valuable information on how the batteries in EVs can be integrated into electric grid management. The project is expected to begin in late 2012 and be operational by 2013.
NEDO and its private-sector partner Hitachi are trying to sign up 200 participants in the Kihei area who own EVs, but so far meeting that target has proved difficult, Schatz said. The state is considering including EVs from government fleets to help boost the numbers, Schatz said.
Meanwhile, Maui Electric Co. this week began installing smart meters in the Maui Meadows area as part of a separate smart-grid demonstration project. MECO is partnering with the Department of Energy, the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute and two private companies on the project, which will include as many as 200 homes. Organizers are aiming to reduce demand for electricity on neighborhood circuits by 15 percent during peak usage periods.
