The Star-Advertiser devoted editorial page space a couple days ago to a problem that’s holding Hawaii back from achieving greater reliance on solar energy.
Blame it on the clouds. When they pass over photovoltaic systems on rooftops, PV power output understandably drops, and that can affect the electric grid’s stability, according to Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO).
HECO requires a costly study before new PV systems can be installed on neighborhood circuits that already have at least 15 percent of their total generating capacity coming from alternative resources.
Only 4,000 of the state’s 267,000 single-family homes have PV systems, says the editorial, and that number isn’t likely to grow in neighborhoods where the 15-percent barrier has been reached. Nobody has been willing to shell out the $15,000 to $40,000 cost for one of those studies that could lead to an installation.
Eleven out of Oahu’s 465 circuits are thus stymied. The remaining 454 circuits would seem to offer plenty of expansion possibilities, but those 11 are where the money is, as evident by their PV penetration.
Sharing the Load
Finding a path for solar power expansion on circuits where economic power is concentrated and the will to invest already exists is the challenge. There has to be a way, perhaps by adding another of those small surcharges or fees we all pay in our electric bill to fund rebates for energy-efficient appliances.
The beneficiaries of the surcharges are those among us who replace inefficient refrigerators, water heaters and even light bulbs, but the entire population also benefits when we cut our kilowatthour demand and therefore our reliance on oil to generate electricity. The same would be true of a surcharge that funds those PV-connected studies.
Do the laws of physics allow an entire circuit to be PV-powered? Only in the dreams of PV system marketers, no doubt, but that could be a goal for the 21st Century – after lots of experimentation, development of storage capabilities and, yes, more studies.
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5 comments:
"Eleven out of Oahu’s 465 circuits are thus stymied. The remaining 454 circuits would seem to offer plenty of expansion possibilities, but those 11 are where the money is, as evident by their PV penetration."...C'mon, really?.... the thought that PV is still only for the wealthy is outdated. There are a number of options to go solar with no up front costs...PPA's, leases and local banks offering home equity lines of credit for PV purchases. The second the systems is installed the homeowner is cash positive. The fact is that solar will be like cellphones soon, everyone will have it.
"Do the laws of physics allow an entire circuit to be PV-powered? Only in the dreams of PV system marketers, no doubt, but that could be a goal for the 21st Century – after lots of experimentation, development of storage capabilities and, yes, more studies." Again, this is also an old thought. KIUC has a 100% PV powered circuit.
These types of articles just slow down Hawaii's chance of getting more renewables online.
Thanks for the insights, Anonymous....but I do have to quibble with your quibbling about my quote re those 11 circuits. On the face of it, they're where the money HAS been to install PV systems, right? Hard to disagree with that point. I did not suggest that they're the ONLY place where PV is doable, and you've provided reasons why systems are possible at no up-front cost to the homeowner. What I DID imply is that these circuits, although tapped out at 15% today, probably are rich in possibilities because of the neighborhoods they're in -- with neighbors who just may have the cash and desire to install a system. That's why we need a way around the disincentive because of the study's cost.
Your next point is news to me -- that there's a circuit somewhere on Kauai that has every single home and/or commercial establishment with a PV system. I'll be checking in with friend Jan TenBruggencate, who's on the KIUC board, to learn more about it.
But do you really think this post has slowed down Hawaii's chance of getting more renewables online? I can't see how you make such a leap. Try looking on the bright side and read the headline again. Reaching solar's potential is what it's all about, and the faster, the better. Hawaii Energy Options is devoted to fast for all technologies when they make sense and their impacts, if any, are not so great as to be undesirable. Thanks for visiting.
The Kauai electric cooperative, KIUC, indeed has a Kapaa circuit that is 100 percent solar powered when the sun is shining. KIUC is pushing the envelope to learn how large amounts of renewables fit into the grid.
Here's what our CEO said when the new Kapaa solar project went online:
"This first utility-scale solar farm on Kauai allows us the opportunity to determine and better understand the physical limitations of high penetration PV on a distribution circuit and to work through some specific technicalities associated with adding large scale intermittent renewables to our generation mix," said KIUC CEO David Bissell.
Thanks, Jan. I appreciate your contribution. You and I also talked by phone about this. To clarify the KIUC situation, there is a 1-megawatt solar far attached to that grid, and when the sun's shining, it provides 100% of the circuit's power demand.
The implication I had intended to leave in the above post (but didn't do a good job of) is the future potential for 100% of all electricity customers on a utility circuit having PV power installed. That possibility probably does exist only in the dreams of PV marketers, but that aside, it's good news that KIUC may have the first circuit in the world (I've heard) that can run entirely on PV power, with battery backup for fluctuations. I appreciate your help, Jan.
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