Hawaii solar permits issued down 6.6%

Solar permits issued in the state fell 6.6% in the first quarter even as the percentage of those with energy storage increased.

There were 963 solar electric permits issued in the January-March period compared with 1,031 during the same time frame in 2018, according to data tracked by Hilo-­based Pro­Vision Solar President Marco Mangelsdorf.

The number of permits issued was mixed across the state’s four counties. Kauai County permits issued jumped 38.5% to 90 from 65, and Maui County permits issued rose 6.8% to 142 from 133. Honolulu County permits declined 14.5% to 537 from 628, and Hawaii County permits fell 5.4% to 194 from 205.

”One notable difference between this year and last year is the growing increase in the percentage of PV permits with energy storage, with over 70 percent including batteries with Korean LG Chem and American-made Tesla, the two most popular choices,” Mangelsdorf said.

Mangelsdorf said as this year’s legislative session winds down this month, the local solar industry is keeping a close eye on House Bill 307, SD 1, which was gutted by the Senate and will be referred to a conference committee in the days to come.

”HB 307, SD 1, would ramp down the state’s Renewable Energy Technologies Investment Tax Credit, a questionable move in light of all of Hawaii’s energy stakeholders supporting keeping the pedal to metal to get us as soon as cost-effectively possible to 100% renewable in power generation,” Mangelsdorf said.

He said the solar industry members are also disappointed in the lack of any provision that would establish a new state tax credit for the addition of energy storage to existing solar electric systems, of which there are about 90,000 across the islands.

“Whereas such a provision made it to conference committees in 2016, 2017 and 2018, it never made it out of the first legislative committee this session,” he said. “One clear, practical and near-term way to bolster our island grids against the inevitable hurricane hit is to exponentially increase the amount of energy storage deployed on the utility and customer-generator sides of the electric meter.“