03-26-2014, 05:28 AM
FYI: (*Snipped - More at link)
Former U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu lashes out at Hawaiian Electric
http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/news/...s-out.html
Former U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu has lashed out at Hawaiian Electric Co., saying that the Honolulu-based utility needs a “better business model” when it comes to integrating more solar energy into its grid, according to a recent Forbes article.
But Hawaiian Electric said that while it is encountering challenges as it hits higher penetrations of solar energy than anywhere else in the country, it also is committed to identifying and implementing solutions to those challenges.
"We collaborate nationally and internationally on a long list of research projects aimed at solutions to add distributed generation to our grids safely and reliably," Hawaiian Electric spokesman Peter Rosegg told PBN in an email.
Forbes magazine, which did a piece titled, “Steven Chu Solves Utility Companies’ Death Spiral,” said that “a Hawaiian utility has tried to slow the growth of solar,” citing “grid stability.”
“That’s another bull**** argument,” Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, told Forbes, adding that solar installations "don’t threaten grid stability until they approach 20 percent of the customer base.”
Former U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu lashes out at Hawaiian Electric
http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/news/...s-out.html
Former U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu has lashed out at Hawaiian Electric Co., saying that the Honolulu-based utility needs a “better business model” when it comes to integrating more solar energy into its grid, according to a recent Forbes article.
But Hawaiian Electric said that while it is encountering challenges as it hits higher penetrations of solar energy than anywhere else in the country, it also is committed to identifying and implementing solutions to those challenges.
"We collaborate nationally and internationally on a long list of research projects aimed at solutions to add distributed generation to our grids safely and reliably," Hawaiian Electric spokesman Peter Rosegg told PBN in an email.
Forbes magazine, which did a piece titled, “Steven Chu Solves Utility Companies’ Death Spiral,” said that “a Hawaiian utility has tried to slow the growth of solar,” citing “grid stability.”
“That’s another bull**** argument,” Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, told Forbes, adding that solar installations "don’t threaten grid stability until they approach 20 percent of the customer base.”