Will the new flow put an end to more geothermal?

[Justin]

I hate to waffle here, but it depends on what you mean by "directly." The whole point of a grid is that everything is connected, and all of the sources (PGV, grid-tied solar, big power plants) put electricity onto the grid, and all the destinations (houses, businesses, etc.) take electricity off of the grid. So no single source powers any single destination. Indeed, a grid-tied solar system doesn't power that given house - directly. Instead, all of the power generated during the day is put onto the grid, and power used at night (for TV, internet, water heater, etc.) comes off of the grid, no matter who supplied it.

My understanding is that they are looking into having PGV be on a "separate" grid for lower Puna, if lower Puna gets separated from the rest of the grid. That is not as easy as it sounds, both in terms of PGV having sufficient electricity for starting up its operations (which right now get electricity from the grid, from other sources), and also in terms of storing excess electricity on the grid (since it can't simply ship that electricity out to HOVE or Hawi or Kona or wherever).