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Solar permits issued on Oahu declined in August for the third straight month and are now just slightly ahead of where they were at this time a year ago.
There were 217 permits issued by the Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting for solar electrical systems last month, down 20.5 percent from 273 in July 2017, according to Marco Mangelsdorf, who tracks rooftop solar permits and is president of Hilo-based ProVision Solar.
Solar permits issued on Oahu have now fallen over 20 percent in each of the past two months.
But on the energy storage front, 69 percent of photovoltaic permits in August included batteries, compared with 25 percent the same month last year.
The top three PV permit pullers on the island since January have been Sunrun, RevoluSun and Hawaii Energy Connection, respectively.
“Interestingly, this modest increase (during the first eight months) is predominantly due to Sunrun acting as the No. 1 PV permit-generating engine for the island,” Mangelsdorf said.
“This year so far, the solar integrator has obtained 614 permits versus 282 during the same period last year. Removing Sunrun’s permits from the 2018 and 2017 tallies would equate to a drop of 18 percent for the rest of the field.”
ON THE MOVE
Kaiser Permanente has announced it has added the following doctors to its team on Oahu and Maui:
>> Dr. Joseph Hong is an internist at Oahu’s Mapunapuna Medical Office as well as chief resident of the Kaiser Permanente Hawaii Residency Program. Hong completed his internal medicine residency at California Pacific Medical Center.
>> Dr. Kaeryn Lewis is a new pediatrician for the Maui Lani Medical Office. Lewis was a resident at Baylor College of Medicine as well as a fellow in pediatric infectious disease at the University of Washington Seattle Children’s Hospital.
>> Dr. Aileen Tamura is Moanalua Medical Center’s new hospitalist. Tamura served her internal medicine residency at the University of Hawaii.
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