Startup offers data on solar performance to Hawaii companies

A solar data startup is looking to help Hawaii’s dominant utility and local companies by revealing the risks of different photovoltaic systems.

Honolulu-raised Richard Matsui is the chief executive officer and co-founder of kWh Analytics. The Oakland, Calif.-based company collects data about the solar industry and compares how photovoltaic panels perform, helping potential investors understand the risks associated with different manufacturers. KWh currently works with solar developers, investors and equipment manufacturers in 10 states.

The U.S. Department of Energy awarded kWh Analytics $500,000 on Oct. 22 to help create a rating system with the company’s data. The rating system is expected to be finished by 2015, Matsui said.

In September, Energy Excelerator, a program based in Honolulu that provides funding and helps startups network with other companies, named kWh Analytics one of 17 companies that it will be working with in 2015.

Energy Excelerator is funded in part by the federal Department of Energy and Office of Naval Research.

"Rich is a great example of a local entrepreneur innovating in a very unique and important space: energy financing," said Dawn Lippert, director of Energy Excelerator. "Think of how advanced data capture is for major league sports: An opposing team can predict tendencies of an opposing player and develop an appropriate game plan. KWh Analytics has developed a way for solar installers and utilities to develop an appropriate game plan for each installation based on data they’ve been capturing and analyzing. This could have a tremendous impact on developing strategies for additional grid-tied renewable energy."

Through the program, kWh Analytics will be able to test its technologies in Hawaii.

"Hawaii is at the forefront across the solar revolution," Matsui said. "The challenge that Hawaii is going through is something the rest of the country will be going through in the next five to 20 years."

Matsui and his company will return to Hawaii in November as kWh Analytics begins open discussions with local businesses and Hawaiian Electric Co.

"The Energy Excelerator is scheduling a bunch of meetings for us with HECO, local installers and banks to talk about work we are doing on the data side," Matsui said.

The awards that kWh Analytics has received since launching in 2012 has the electrical utility interested in the young company, HECO said.

"Hawaiian Electric and our parent company are big supporters of the Energy Excelerator," said Peter Rosegg, HECO spokesman. "Energy Excelerator recognition and grants are to us strong indicators of the value of what kWh Analytics can do. Our engineers had preliminary discussions with the company, and we look forward to learning more about their ability to provide excellent data to those who invest in solar facilities."

The nationwide company has five staff members and a database that contains information about approximately 100 solar panel brands and 40,000 working systems.

KWh Analytics helps its customers by showing whether the systems will generate the amount of power that was promised.

"Who is giving you a bad product, and who is not? The only way this can be solved is if someone brings this data together," Matsui said.

The data is especially helpful as leasing systems become more popular for residents, pushing companies to find out which manufacturers offer the best panels.

"In today’s world there are a lot more leasing pitches," he said. "There are multiple choices of where you can invest your money when it comes to solar. They need data to do a good job."

With installers investing in the hardware and residents leasing the systems for up to 20 years, understanding solar panels as an asset becomes even more important, Matsui said.

"The risk that is increasing here is if the system doesn’t perform, you aren’t going to save the money you thought you were going to save," he said.