Dive Brief:
- Hawaiian Electric Co. (HECO) has teamed up with E-Gear LLC for a pilot program designed to allow more customers to interconnect rooftop photovoltaic systems on the island of Molokai.
- HECO will pay for E-Gear to install its Energy Management Control (EMC) and storage technology in the expectation that the system will enable 10 solar PV systems waiting to be installed to move forward.
- HECO will evaluate the performance of the systems to determine whether similar systems can be used to integrate more solar power in areas with high concentrations of rooftop PV systems.
Dive Insight:
Solar rooftop installations are reaching such proportions in the island state that it is creating bottlenecks, especially on Molokai, which has among the highest levels of solar penetration of all the Hawaiian islands.
There are more than 100 applications to install rooftop solar panels pending on Molokai. The delay has been criticized by Public Utilities Commission Chair Randall Iwase, who has expressed dissatisfaction in the holdups.
The high levels of solar penetration on Molokai – in 2015, 51% compared with the island’s peak demand – threaten to create frequency fluctuations that could result in power outages.
To address the situation, HECO has teamed up with E-Gear in a pilot energy control and storage project that is aimed at enabling 10 stalled PV systems to be installed.
The equipment can be monitored and controlled by utility system operators, potentially improving the interaction of rooftop PV systems with the grid and reducing the chance these systems will undermine reliable service and power quality.
HECO will then evaluate system performance to determine whether similar systems can be used to integrate more solar power in areas with high concentrations of rooftop PV systems.
E-Gear is also evaluating their EMC-equipped PV systems, which are designed to minimize the grid impact of rooftop PV systems on a small, highly saturated grids like Molokai's, in partnership with the Electric Power Research Institute.
“Our advanced edge-of-grid solutions have been developed and tested over the past two years to bridge a gap between Hawaii's 100% renewables goal and a grid designed in a pre-PV era,” Chris DeBone, E-Gear co-founder and managing partner, said in a statement.