On May 16, a coalition of photovoltaic system installers and solar energy advocates filed a motion with the state Public Utilities Commission, formally asking it to lift the 35 megawatt cap it put in place last fall when it ended the net-metering program.
The “accelerating pace of [customer grid supply] tariff applications may fill any remaining capacity on some islands by as early as the first week of June 2016 and will likely fill any remaining capacity on all islands by the beginning of August 2016,” the coalition stated in its motion. In addition, adjustment of the cap would “help maintain the industry’s interim viability.” According to the Hawai`i Solar Energy Association, 73 percent of solar installers surveyed “report workforce reductions of 35 percent on average” since the cap was imposed, with further reductions likely when the remaining net-energy metering projects have been installed.
Under the PUC’s order, the 35 MW of new rooftop solar capacity added under the grid-supply option is distributed among the service areas of Hawaiian Electric. O`ahu is allowed 25 MW, Maui County is allowed 5, and Hawai`i island is allowed 5. As of late April, the company reported that on O`ahu, 9.5 MW of grid-supply solar had been installed or in the pipeline; 1.3 MW on Maui; and 2.4 MW on Hawai`i island. That means 38 percent of the total allowed capacity for new rooftop solar systems is already spoken for.
In each week in April, the average amount of capacity added to the grid each week came to 1.16 MW (with 0.77 MW on O`ahu; 0.27 on Maui; and 0.12 on the Big Island). If this number holds steady, the cap on new Maui systems could be reached in the first week of July, that on O`ahu by the end of August, and that for Hawai`i island by early November.
But, the coalition argues, that pace will likely accelerate “as customer familiarity with the [customer grid-supply] tariff continues to grow and pressure to install projects builds with in response to the impending cap.” A “more realistic” scenario, the motion states, has the O`ahu cap being reached in early July; that for Hawai`i island by August 12; and that for Maui topping out by June 10.
The PUC also needs to increase the cap, the solar parties state, so that the grid-supply option “can continue to serve its purpose as a bridge between [net metering] and more permanent [distributed energy resource] market structures.” The customer self-supply option has been slow, they add, with just one system having come online to date.
Finally, the solar parties take note of the fact that Hawaiian Electric has cancelled three utility-scale projects that would have added 112 megawatts of solar power to O`ahu’s grid. “Given that the HECO companies have no ‘shovel redy’ replacements for these projects and may not be able to replace the capacity of these projects for at least 20-30 months,” the motion states, “there should be little or no detriment in allowing a fraction of that 112 MW shortfall to be filled by” the grid-supply customers.
— Patricia Tummons
Volume 26, Number 12 June 2016
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