Disconnecting from the grid

Henk Rogers, the entrepreneur who made "Tetris" famous, announced Monday the launch of a new company that offers batteries for rooftop solar systems and a way to disconnect from the electric grid, something he says more Hawaii residents will want if NextEra Energy Inc. becomes their electric company.

Blue Planet Energy Systems partnered with Sony Electronics to offer a battery system called Blue Ion. The system stores the excess energy generated by residential or commercial solar photovoltaic systems during the day and allows the owners to use the stored energy overnight or for backup during a power outage.

The pending sale of Hawaii’s largest utilities to Florida-based NextEra will boost demand for energy storage systems, Rogers said.

"I have a feeling people are afraid of NextEra because if you go to Florida, you will find the lowest penetration of rooftop solar anywhere," Rogers said. "A lot of people are going to get scared and want to get off (the grid) because they don’t know what is going to change after that."

Calling batteries "the answer to renewable energy," Rogers, 61, said he has been using a system to sustain his 6,000-square-foot residence on Round Top as well as his ranch on Hawaii island off-grid for the past year.

The average home needs about 20 kilowatt-hours of battery power to disconnect from the grid, Rogers said. His home has a 60-kilowatt-hour system.

Money is a main barrier to broader use of home battery systems. Rogers did not provide the price for the systems he plans to sell or the price of the system that’s on his home.

"If you are really worried about the price, maybe you should wait a little because the price is going to come down," Rogers said.

He said that because the technology is new, the first adopters will pay more, but over time the price of energy storage would follow the falling cost of solar panels.

As for NextEra, which is proposing to buy Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. for $4.3 billion, Rogers said he is not convinced they will be a supporter of rooftop solar.

"Who knows what is going to happen when they come in? They say they love rooftop solar, but why would they say that when they act differently over there (in Florida)?" Rogers said.

While almost 13 percent of Hawaiian Electric Co. customers have rooftop photovoltaic systems, only about 0.06 percent of the 4.8 million customers at NextEra’s Florida utility have rooftop solar.

NextEra has said its priority is providing customers with low-cost, reliable electric power. Its rates in Florida are below the national average.

Rooftop solar is not as economical in Florida as Hawaii, NextEra said. In Hawaii, NextEra said it will support the expansion of rooftop solar and HECO’s goal of tripling rooftop solar systems by 2030.

In addition to the Florida utility, NextEra owns NextEra Energy Resources, which is the largest renewable energy company in the U.S. and a builder of wind and solar farms. NextEra has said its experience with renewable energy will help Hawaii reach its goal of reducing dependence on fossil fuels.

Rogers said he wants the energy storage technology to be helpful in breaking the state’s reliance on fossil fuel and is not trying to pick a fight with the electrical utility.

"I’m ultimately in the business of selling energy storage, and we’ll sell it to anyone, including the electric company and NextEra," Rogers said. "I am not fighting against the electric company. I’m looking to provide storage to the grid as well. That will enable them to do more renewables."

Rogers said that despite the state’s new goal of 100 percent renewable power generation by 2045, the adoption of technologies that would break the state’s use of fossil fuels is not fast enough and that energy storage will help push in the renewable direction.

"The state, the Legislature and the regulators can only do so much. I believe storage is the answer to renewable energy," Rogers said. "If we have storage available for everybody, that will make wind and solar reasonable."

Honolulu-based Blue Planet Energy Systems joins a list of organizations under Rogers’ Blue Planet brand. Rogers serves as chairman of Blue Planet Software, the sole agent for Tetris. Rogers also founded Blue Startups, a business accelerator; Blue Planet Foundation, a nonprofit clean energy organization; and Blue Planet Research, a research facility on Hawaii island.

Rogers said there will be plenty of competition in selling the emerging technology. One competitor in particular is Tesla Motors Inc. Founder and CEO Elon Musk launched the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company’s battery system, Powerwall, in April.

"There will be competition, yes," Rogers said. "It is early in the business. There is so much room for everyone to make money. I’m going to go head to head with Elon. Yeah, let’s go."

Tesla’s Powerwall, with a starting price of $3,000, can link to a rooftop solar system. The 51-inch-tall, 34-inch-wide and 7-inch-thick battery can supply most of the power to a home during a blackout and eventually may be used to disconnect from the grid, the companies said.

Rogers’ system uses Sony Fortelion-Olivine-type lithium iron phosphate batteries, which he said have been tested more than 20 years with daily charging and discharging. Each battery cell of 1.2 kilowatt-hours is about the size of a DVD player. The cells can be stacked in a floor-mounted indoor case.

Rogers said the system is compatible with most inverters and charge controllers for low- or high-voltage systems.