Hawaiian Electric PV backlog to be cleared

Hawaiian Electric Co. has submitted plans to clear the backlog of customers waiting to connect their rooftop solar systems.

All 2,749 customers waiting to connect because they live in areas with high numbers of photovoltaic connected to the grid will be approved by December 2015, HECO said. 

The electric utility submitted detailed plans to ‘clear the queue’ in a letter to the Public Utilities Commission on Friday. 

The utility will approve at least 2,500 customers waiting for approval in areas with high levels of PV interconnection by April of 2015 with the remaining systems approved by December 2015.  

Of the total 4,807 who are waiting on approval for their Net Energy Metering applications on Oahu, to connect their rooftop solar to the grid, more than half of those customers are waiting because of high numbers of solar systems already connected to the grid in their area.

HECO is currently in the process of approving the other 2,058 applications, the utility said.