Oahu residential solar PV permits drop sharply

The number of permits issued on Oahu for residential solar photovoltaic systems declined by 42 percent for the week ended Sunday compared with the same week a year earlier, according to data released by the state.

The 133 permits issued for the week was also down 29 percent from the previous week. There were 821 permits for PV systems issued during the first six weeks of 2014, a drop of 30 percent from the same period in 2013.

The average value of residential PV permits in the latest week was $24,500. That compared with $28,300 in the year-ago week and $23,600 in the previous week. There also were six commercial PV permits issued for the week ended Sunday, down from eight commercial permits issued during the year-earlier week, and up from the three commercial permits issued the previous week.