Good news for Hawaii homeowners trying to “go green”… the wait to hookup their rooftop solar systems is almost over.
This afternoon, HECO announced plans to clear the backlog of thousands of customers waiting for approval to connect their PV systems to the grid.
Most of them live in areas with a high percentage of solar customers.
We’re told some customers have been waiting as long as a year for approval.
The number of Hawaii residents taking advantage of the sun’s energy increases every year, and it’s been hard for HECO to keep up.
In a statement, HECO acknowledged the frustration the delay has caused their customers.
But now they’re ready to take a look at applications.
Currently, HECO will have to proces 4,800 solar applications.
Anyone who meets the following criteria will be approved for interconnection:
Their PV systems must use certain inverter models to prevent overvoltage.
Inverters are devices that convert electricity from solar panels into AC electricity that most home appliances use.
These inverter models must also comply with hawaiian electric specifications to ride through voltage conditions during emergencies on the island-wide electric grid.
“Solar is truly a no-brainer in Hawaii. Everyone knows that. It’s just now figuring out the technical challenges, the social, and economic challenges of having it become the energy and future of Hawaii,” says Chris DeBone, President of Hawaii Solar Energy Association.
HECO intends to process and approve all backlogged applications by April 2015.
Unfortunately, this does not apply to new customers as that is still an ongoing process.
Year to date, the Hawaiian Electric Companies have approved about 7,500 applications from customers to interconnect their rooftop solar systems to the grid.
As of October 2014, the list of applications in progress for O’ahu includes approximately:
*1,100 customers seeking interconnection on circuits with installed PV equal to or less than 120% of the daytime minimum load. These applications are moving through the normal process and are likely to receive prompt approvals. In this category, new applications come in and, after review, approvals are sent out on an ongoing basis.
*About 1,000 customers are awaiting completion of upgrades to substations or other modifications to their own systems and will soon receive approvals.
*2,700 customers are on circuits over 120% daytime minimum load. These will be approved over the coming months as this plan is implemented.
Similar approval plans will go into effect for Maui Electric and Hawai’i Electric Light with each company having about 330 customers awaiting approvals on circuits with high amounts of installed PV.
Beyond these solutions for customers already awaiting rooftop solar interconnection approval, the companies are working on a range of other customer options, such as a non-export model incorporating battery storage and a community solar program, that will support a tripling of customer-sited solar in coming years. The companies’ have submitted a Distributed Generation Interconnection Plan and Integrated Interconnection Queue Proposal for review to the Hawai’i Public Utilities Commission.
Across the three Hawaiian Electric Companies, more than 48,000 customers have rooftop solar. As of September 2014, about 11% of Hawaiian Electric customers, 10% of Maui Electric customers and 8 percent of Hawai’i Electric Light customers have rooftop solar. This compares to a national average of one-half of one percent
