Solar companies are glad to see that Hawaiian Electric Co. has developed a timetable to clear the backlog of customers waiting to connect their rooftop solar systems.
But the chosen dates and the adjusted conditions for approval have raised some questions among the solar firms.
The utility submitted detailed plans to "clear the queue" in a letter to the state Public Utilities Commission on Friday. All 2,749 customers waiting because they live in areas with high numbers of photovoltaic systems already connected to the grid will be approved by December 2015, HECO said.
There are 4,807 customers waiting on approval for their Net Energy Metering applications on Oahu to connect their rooftop solar to the grid.
Jon Yoshimura, director of policy and electricity markets for SolarCity, said he hopes this is the beginning of more good news for the solar industry.
"This is great news for all the people who have been waiting for approval and for others who are interested in producing their own clean, homegrown energy," Yoshimura said.
The utility will approve at least 2,500 customers waiting for the go-ahead in areas with high levels of PV interconnection by April, with the remaining systems approved by December 2015.
But the general date is still a delay, said Isaac Moriwake, attorney at EarthJustice.
"The solar industry has been diligently working with HECO," Moriwake said.
"We have this general date they are shooting for, but my understanding is that once the steps are done, if HECO is acting in good faith, we could be acting on this in a couple months, not halfway into next year."
Customers must submit NEM applications before connecting their rooftop solar systems to the grid as a result of HECO’s September 2013 rule change requiring customers and contractors to be approved by the utility before installing photovoltaic systems. The utility said this was to address potential safety and reliability concerns.
HECO has been working with the solar industry, inverter manufacturers and national experts to address those potential issues, said Jim Alberts, Hawaiian Electric senior vice president of customer service.
"Applying results of recent inverter testing, over the next five months we expect that we’ll be able to approve almost all of the customers who have been waiting for interconnection on these high solar circuits," Alberts said.
The utility will make changes to the qualifications customers must meet for their rooftop solar systems to be approved, HECO said.
"In a test lab, transient overvoltage conditions — essentially voltage spikes — can be created again and again to observe how different inverters respond under different circumstances," said Colton Ching, Hawaiian Electric vice president of energy delivery.
"Based on the positive initial results, we feel comfortable applying the results to come up with requirements for the current volume of PV systems awaiting approval."
HECO’s filing raises a number of questions and concerns regarding fair treatment of customers, said Colin Yost, chief operating officer and general counsel at RevoluSun.
"Whatever the requirements are, they must be based on science and applied fairly and consistently to everyone," Yost said.
HECO said it is in the process of approving the other 2,058 applications from customers not in high-density areas.
Maui has 333 customers waiting for Net Energy Metering approval from the utility, and Hawaii island has 336.
Across the three Hawaiian Electric Cos., more than 48,000 customers have rooftop solar.
