HECO to increase grid tie fees for solar customers

[kalakoa]

same price to buy an off-grid solar system as it is to pay the $71/month

Only if you have the upfront capital; many people can barely find the $71/month. Generators remain common for the same reason.

power costs at my cottage are in the range of $20-30/month

Monthly HELCO bills of 10x this amount are not uncommon in Puna, especially where "temporary" power is involved.

[SBH]

Some of those same people that say they can't afford to pay for an off-grid pv system also have a $45k Toyota Tundra in their driveways. We don't think about cars paying for themselves and we need electricity in our homes as much as we need our cars. Last time I was in Hawaii Credit Union in Keaau they had a promotion special for financing photovoltaic systems.

We just have to think about it differently. How much is it worth to be free of the stress of being slave to Hellco? How much is worth to know you'll still have power and water and food in the refridgerator during and after a storm like Iselle. Most of Hellco's electricity is generated from burning foreign oil which comes at a high price. Some people pay the ultimate price fighting for it in our wars for oil.

There will be breakthroughs in battery technology, a lot of money being invested right now. In the near future I expect Tesla to be producing batteries for off-the-grid home applications. You can make your batteries last longer by learning to live with the sun. Do your laundry during the day while your making power. Run your dishwasher when its sunny. Lights hardly use any energy with LED's and CFL's so that's never a concern. Our large, double door LG refridgerator is the only thing on 24/7 which uses only 3 amps. We even use a toaster which was never even considered in off-grid living before.

Our L16 batteries weigh 105 pounds each x 24 = 2520 pounds, so it cost a lot to ship them to Hawaii. They cost around $300 each right now. Our system is 48 volt before it's inverted to AC so We needed 24 batteries, but you don't have to have that large of battery system. We wanted extra power storage for long periods of little to no sun and to expand our energy demand with things like aquaponic and pond water pumps and possibly an electric car in the future.

If it's a new system and you don't have cores to trade in then you're going to pay an extra $30 each for a core charge for these very large, heavy batteries. So that's another $720 for a 48 volt system. $360 extra for a 24 volt system.

I first lived off-grid on Oahu in '84 with a simple, small DC system hooked to 12 volt car batteries, no inverter or charge controller. The beauty of pv is it's all scalable. The most important step to start with is conservation. Scaling down your energy emand and with the new energy star appliances you don't have to scale back very much at all like you use to if you're building a new home.

Also very important to orient your modules properly to get maximum efficiency. You will only achieve what your pv mods are rated at if they are pointed true south, not magnetic, which is about 170 degrees here. The angle of your array should be equal to your latitude which for us is 19 degrees. Anything off of proper orientation you then have to oversize your system to accommodate for that loss of efficiency. I laugh at all the pv's I see pointing in all different directions, even North, and all kinds of rediculous angles. I've seen pv's on all 4 sides of a building and at 60 degrees! Those people were ripped off and probably saying solar aint that great!

Living off grid is freedom. Beautiful, sunny day today!

[Kapohocat]

I was wondering how solar panels fared in the wind. And how would they fare in a heavier wind? I didnt hear of anyone losing their panels.

Is this a consideration or are the roof connectors rated to hurricane strength wind?

[SBH]

Our array is engineered for 110 mph and was solid, no issues. I built a ground mount to get that perfect orientation with twelve 12" wide concrete footings sunk 4-8 foot deep drilled into blue rock. Yes, overkill I know. Also put it on the leeward side of the house so the wind goes up and over the array.

I'm confident it could handle up to a 3 hurricane though. Anthing above a 3 hurricane the metal roof will be coming off the house anyway before the pv's go flying.

I think the best design is an array mounted on a carport with proper orientation. Build a large closet at the end for battery box, inverter and charge controller and then underground your wire to the house. Then you could also charge an electric car in the future if you wanted.

I believe in minimizing your holes in the roof of your home with so much rainfall here just like you minimize thru-hull fittings on a boat hull.

[leilanidude]

Until you convince all of the landlords to install solar water heating and solar systems on their rental properties, this "everyone must have solar" thing is a moot point. Besides, then the landlords would be increasing the rent, which causes a higher GET tax to be collected, which causes rents for the poorest people to go even higher.
I also cannot imagine a landlord trusting a renter with a battery system.

[bluesboy]

quote:

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Originally posted by SBH

I think the best design is an array mounted on a carport with proper orientation. Build a large closet at the end for battery box, inverter and charge controller and then underground your wire to the house.

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This is exactly what I did.

[SBH]

quote:

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Originally posted by leilanidude

I also cannot imagine a landlord trusting a renter with a battery system.

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As the market grows and more people pull the plug from HellCo there will services available to water your batteries monthly for you and clean the glass of your modules. It would be a good expansion service for window washing companies.

It's really not very difficult to add distilled water to your batteries, but for older people and landlords not wanting tenants to do it, paying someone to service them regularly would be helpful.

Also, there are hydrocaps available for your batteries that take the hydrogen and oxygen battery gas and catalytically recombine into pure H2O and return that pure water back to each battery cell so that you don't even have to water your batteries regularly. Basically zero maintenance.

The good news for future Punatics dreaming of building their home here is there are new products coming out which incorporate the photovoltaic right into the building materials. No modules and expensive racking to buy. Translucent photovoltaics incorporated into your windows and roofing materials.

http://www.onyxsolar.com

http://mitei.mit.edu/news/transparent-solar-cells

They'll even have pv paint that you just paint your house with. It's already been created.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2qlw3fsK8s

Everyone will have their very own micro-grid, and no HellCo bill. Wouldn't it be nice to remove all those ugly power lines? Most of us will see this in our lifetimes.

[MarkP]

There is plenty of room for a difference of opinion on the orientation of solar panels. Having maximum production twice a year as would be the case with a 19 degree slope won't help you if you aren't making quite enough during the winter. In that case you would be best to slope south facing panels 43 degrees to maximize winter production. Although the summer production will be decreased greatly it will still be as much as the winter production due to the longer hours. Select anything in between to match changing loads since you may need more production during the summer because of air conditioning, although it is a truly hard core solar off-gridder that has air conditioning.

Similarly aiming panels east and west to start re-charging the batteries earlier and delay drawing from them later in the day will let you work your batteries less hard and if you are going into float mode for large parts of the day and thereby not even using all the available solar power it's a win-win.

It's important to accept the fact that you will never achieve the nameplate rating of your panels in Puna. When the sky is overcast panel orientation becomes much less critical and having more panels becomes more beneficial. Buy some extra panels and find somewhere to put them where they can see the sky. If every panel is pointed a couple of degrees true north of flat (for the Big Island at least) you will have the satisfaction of melting down your charge controller at noon each summer solstice but you would be seriously hurting during the winter solstice, so not having all panels aimed in the same direction can mitigate that problem since they won't all peak at once. You could buy a larger capacity charge controller but then you would have to install a larger battery bank. The extra panels pointed in different but still useful directions is an alternative. When the sun is bright different banks of panels peak at different times. When the sun went behind clouds all the panels would then charge at the same low rate. This is a relatively recent practice made feasible by the present relatively low cost of panels.

[SBH]

The ideal mount is on a tracking system for perfect orientation, but that is a lot more expensive, requires moving parts and is prone to breaking especially in high winds like Iselle.

[Carey]

HEICO "Hot Topics" Corp. Comm. on this issue:

"Those “solar charges” you’re hearing about

Rooftop PV – and our estimated pricing under a possible new rate structure – is getting a lot of attention in the media following last week’s filings with the Public Utilities Commission. Our goals of lowering customer bills by 20 percent by 2030 and achieving more than 65 percent in renewable energy are also hot topics.


So we wanted to provide you with some information, in case you’re asked about these filings by family, friends, neighbors and customers.

First, it’s worth noting the overall principles that guided our recommendations for updating the distributed generation (DG) policies:



· Policies should lead to a sustainable set of customer options for DG

· We must be proactive in responding to our customers’ desires for DG

· All initiatives must ensure safety and reliability for all customers

· Rates governing DG must fairly reflect the value of the power provided from and to the grid, and must fairly allocate costs of the grid to all customers



Now, an important clarification about those “solar charges.” The numbers that are widely cited by the media were included in our plan for illustration purposes only. As you read the information below, please remember that these are strictly hypothetical numbers based on high level estimates. We’ll review those estimates in much more detail in upcoming regulatory proceedings. Ultimately, the PUC will decide on the rate structure.



We say we want to lower costs, yet we propose increasing the minimum charge for everyone. Why?



· The proposed solar rate restructuring is about how we make the program fair for all customers. Right now, the costs for maintaining and upgrading the grid are largely being shifted from customers with PV to customers who don't have PV.

· Our companies won't collect any more money in total through these proposals. The total costs would simply be allocated more fairly among all customers rather than having the non-PV customers pay more than their fair share of the costs.

· Our plan calls for a higher minimum charge for all residential customers (for illustration purposes, we estimated $55 for Hawaiian Electric, $61 for Hawai#699;i Electric Light, $50 for Maui Electric). But at the same time, as more fixed costs are captured in the minimum charge, we’d lower the per kilowatt-hour rate for everyone.

o We estimate that most non-PV customers already pay more than the minimum charge so that change won’t impact them.

o We’ll look at more detailed customer data and fine-tune our recommendation on the amounts in upcoming PUC proceedings.

· For new PV customers, we’re also suggesting an additional grid services charge. In our example for O‘ahu, that charge was estimated at roughly $16. So, using the sample numbers in the filing, they’d pay about $71 ($55 minimum + $16 grid services charge). The grid services charge would help pay for the cost of having additional generation available for PV customers when their systems aren’t producing. We’d still credit PV customers for their excess energy, but at fair “market rates.” Right now, we’re crediting PV customers at the full retail value (about 34 cents per kWh on O‘ahu), even though we pay much less to buy power from independent power producers.

· Residents with existing PV would pay the higher minimum charge like everyone else, but they’d also be “grandfathered” under their existing programs. This means they wouldn’t pay the additional grid services charge and would still be credited for the excess energy they produce at the higher “retail rate” they’ve been getting. They could be transitioned to a new PV rate structure in the future. Again, this will all be decided in a PUC proceeding.

For seniors and others on a fixed or low income, we’re looking to implement programs like “Lifeline rates” that could help customers who might have a hard time adjusting to a higher minimum charge.

How soon will this new pricing structure take place?


It’s not expected to be anytime soon. Ultimately, the PUC will decide how much and in what way these changes will be implemented. Many, including the media, are quick to zero in on the figures, and that’s understandable. But remember that these are strictly estimates – hypothetical numbers. We have not formally proposed charges in these amounts. We’re outlining one possibility for how to address a fundamental fairness issue. Any new minimum charge will ultimately be decided by the PUC in a future regulatory proceeding.

Aren’t NEM customers already paying their fair share, in addition to having to pay for their PV systems?

All the changes we’re considering in the rate structure are about fairness. Right now, most PV customers – roughly one in 10 of all customers – generally pay relatively little for their electric service. Most are not paying their share of costs for maintaining and upgrading the grid, even though they use the system daily to send power to the grid and to receive power, such as at night or when the sun isn’t shining. Instead those costs are shifted to everyone else – that is, the 90 percent of customers who don’t have PV. Last year, that subsidy amounted to $38 million – and it’s growing every year. We’re seeking a rate structure that’s fair for all customers.

How are PV customers shifting costs to non-PV customers?

Under the current PV program, known as “net energy metering,” we credit PV customers the full retail price for the excess power they generate – about 34 cents per kilowatt-hour on O‘ahu. But it would actually cost less for us to produce the electricity ourselves or buy the power from other independent producers, including other large renewable energy projects, at wholesale prices. That’s because the retail price is more than double the wholesale price. We’re buying more expensive electricity from rooftop PV, which is a great deal for PV customers. But we can buy less expensive electricity from other sources, which benefits all customers. So in fairness to all customers, we suggest that future PV customers get paid for their power at rates comparable to those of other power producers. This is what’s in place on Kaua‘i.


Why will customers have to wait until 2030 to see lower bills?

They won’t. In most cases, customers will see lower bills over time, sooner than 2030. In some years, bills may fluctuate as investments are made to develop the infrastructure and technology needed to transform our islands’ energy systems. That doesn’t mean customers won’t begin seeing some savings and benefits sooner than that. Our smart grid, voluntary pricing programs like demand response, options like community solar, and other offerings can begin to benefit customers before 2030.

So what happens next? Is our plan a done deal?

No. The PUC just opened a new proceeding focused on distributed generation – to consider technical, operational and economic challenges related to distributed generation like rooftop PV. We believe this plan provides a solid basis for a meaningful discussion. We know there will be a lot of opinions on these issues, which are also being debated across the country"