HECO says interest in new solar system program picking up
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / JULY 19, 2011
This prototype solar carbort at the Hawaiian Electric Co. parking lot features a 9 solar panels connected to a 5-megawatt battery system that stores solar energy collected during the day.
Hawaiian Electric Co. said today it has seen a surge in customers interested in a solar system program that does not offer owners credit for sending energy into the grid.
As of Tuesday, HECO and its sister companies —Maui Electric Co. and Hawaii Electric Light Co.— had received 234 applications for the self-supply program, up from approximately 50 applications in early October.
HECO said nearly 100 self-supply applications have been approved and are ready for installation.The other applications are going through a standard technical review.
The program prohibits solar owners from sending excess energy into HECO’s grid. Most systems need batteries to abide by self-supply requirements.
“Self-supply represents the evolution of solar energy systems,” HECO said in a statement. “These systems enable households to generate their own electricity and to potentially store energy for use after the sun goes down.”
The pick-up in interest comes after self-supply became the only option for new solar owners following the state ending a popular incentive program and another program reaching its limit.
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In October 2015, the Public Utilities Commission replaced a program that offered the full retail rate to customers for the excess energy their systems produced. The new programs were called self-supply and grid-supply.
All of HECO’s service territories have met the state’s limit placed on grid-supply. The program let customers export excess energy to the grid and credited owners 15 cents a kilowatt-hour for the energy their systems sent. The rate was roughly 8 cents less than the retail rate that had been offered through the net energy metering, or NEM, program.
16 responses to “HECO says interest in new solar system program picking up”
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Does anyone know if this “self-supply” program allows a homeowner to access the stored power from the batteries in the event the power goes out due to HECO? I’d consider that. Remember how much it sucks when you don’t have electricity???
you have that option to install an energy storage system that can do just that. and if you had enough pv panels and energy storage you could potentially go off the grid but of course, that costs lots of money and most likely doesn’t make financial sense at this time.
Actually, for some homeowners it can be feasible as a self-supply unit as an investment will pay for itself after several years. Regardless, those who use a self-supply system will save money over the conventional HECO power supply. It all depends on the homeowner investing the money to install such a system and the batteries to run a self-supply unit. It is quite an inverstment but over time will pay for itself due to lower power cost.
If using lithium batteries, after many charge/discharge cycles or running at high temperatures, they will degrade to a point you have to pay to replace the batteries. That would need to be done multiple times and if you have a lot of batteries that could get pretty expensive.
yes that has to be taken into account too. for instance, the tesla powerwall batteries are warranted for 9 years so cholo is assuming about then is how often you’d have to buy new batteries.
Why wouldn’t you have access? Usually these battery banks are purchased by and located on the owner’s property.
Do you even get the tax credits for the batteries? This is far from a good deal, compared to the NEM daze…
Yes if you install a battery backup system with your pv system you will have power if you lose power from HECO. You will also be able to save money on your electric bill by generating your own power during the day and using the stored power during the night.
toot! toot!
was there supposed to be a different result?
Why can’t more than one house share a system?
Sure, you can always run an extension cord to the neighbor’s house. hahahahaha
If they can run a cable from one of the neighbor islands to Oahu, they can rul a cable between houses.
Or tap into a park/street light like the Kakaako homeless have done.
Are you serious? Who would ensure the fair use of power between homes? Never work.
HECO does not want to talk about available power balance systems which would let PV power your home during the day and let in grid power as needed to make up for PV drop. No PV power would go out to the grid. Batteries would not be needed. Would cost far less.
okay