HECO / Solar

[Kapohocat]

http://www.capwiz.com/re-action/issues/alert/?alertid=14869796&type=an

Huh? Heco wants to block solar because it will disrupt service?

[Greg]

The Power company is acting like the music industry in their phobia of new technology. Instead of trying to stop the inevitable growth of solar technology they should jump on the bandwagon and promote it.

Not everyone can afford a $30,000 solar system, but would probably gladly pay HELCO for a "lease to own" system. It would allow HELCO to expand their service to rural areas without super costly, high maintenance, and unsightly power poles.

[DanielP]

First, the author' assertion that the solar power industry will die within 18 months is a crock.

Heco's problems are two-fold; They have new fuel fired plants to pay for. These plants are not efficient to increase or decrease output quickly to make up for the on and off nature of solar

Second: transmission capacity. Heco's transmission infrastructure is antiquated. It needs expensive upgrades to distribute power from where it is produced to where it is used.

These are costly upgrades and guess who will be required to pay for them? US!

It is a difficult situation for HECO to sell either way. Third world infrastructure meets first world technology and growth.

Dan

[Ed Smay]

When we built our home, we placed it 875 ft back in from the road. Helco quoted $50K just to put in poles and wires. Our solar system was half of that and the only maintenace we have monthly is diesel costs for the generator. Glad that we don't need them to exist. It's more reliable as well. Big Storms, still had power when no one else did.

"From knowledge comes understanding"

[Seeb]

this has no effect on stand alone solar systems.and i'm not supporting helco's organized crime kinda rates.but the engineering problems of all these little systems back feeding into the grid are real

[Carey]

A note of some facts & opinions:
The article stated that HECO was afraid that too much DG power could destabilize the grid (as has already been mentioned, this grid is an antiquated system...)

I am not sure about the financials on this, as far as I have found, the current lease to power PV systems are not HECO or HELCO leases, but independents.

The article had stated that HECO is asking for an 18 month time frame to study the DG capacity of their grid.

The article also stated that the this destabilization COULD happen if DG power were somewhere around twice the current rate.

If DG power were to increase two fold, would you rather HECO had studied the DG capacity that they could run before destabilization, or not?

[mdd7000]

The not mentioned very loudly part of the problem is that HECO does not want to be forced to pay retail price for the excess solar power. They want (and should be able to) pay wholesale for it. Those people without solar should not have to pay a higher rate via extra tariffs or fees to enable those with excess solar power to gain an extra advantage.

[jerry]

About a month ago I got a notice from Helco (and posted about it) that in summary said:

Call us before installing a grid tied system--we may not have room for it. The current limit is that alternative energy can only be 2 (or maybe 3) percent of the total grid load.

Jerry

[whalesong]

A local power alternative at an affordable price located here in Puna, from Kamakaniopuna.
http://kamakaniopuna.files.wordpress.com..._sheet.pdf

[critterlover]

A couple of things: I spoke with Chen Wu, HELCO's engineer for East Hawaii, just two weeks ago and verified with him that grid tied systems are still being accepted. He said up to 100kw is still no problem. Of course, whenever a person wants to do a grid tie they need to verify that the system can accept it. Another thing, be very careful for the claims of tax credits. Always verify not only the actual percentage but the criteria needed for the credit/refund. All the information is available online.

There are a lot of monies being allocated by the Feds for major upgrades of existing utility infrastructure just for this very thing...to be able to adapt to the growing market of alternative energy. We are caught between a hard place and a rock in this economy with younger couples not able to mortgage a home. They are the ones who would actually see a net neutral value by installing a solar system for 30k and costing it out over the 20-25 yr life expectancy of the system as opposed to renting power from HELCO. If rates remained as they have for the past 20 years they would see savings at around 12.5 years with the remaining 8-13 years life expectancy free generation of power. Of course, the system has a 10% degradation factor which accelerates as life expectancy draws near which makes the system less and less efficient and one doesn't know what kind of power demand they may have in 20 yrs but they'd still be making their own power. Remember, for east Hawaii, it is generally 4.5 hours of production a day, barring shadows cast from tall trees, hills, etc. Your HELCO bill will tell you what your average daily kw consumption is.

Amazing technology out there.

“A penny saved is a government oversight.”