Hawaiian Electric rolls out DR program to integrate more renewables

Dive Brief:

Hawaiian Electric is continuing to focus on integrating renewable energy, primarily solar, onto its system and wants to later this year implement a demand response program that will incorporate variable pricing.
Pacific Business News reports the utility would begin rolling out the demand response program later this year, with full implementation in 2017 pending regulatory approval.
Last week, the utility announced it had nearly reached a limit on rooftop solar systems which could export power under its Customer Grid-Supply Program.

Dive Insight:

As of Sept. 2, HECO had 23 MW of approved projects under its Customer Grid-Supply Program, which the Public Utilities Commission limits to 25 MW. That means customers will soon be looking at the utility's Customer Self-Supply Program, which can incorporate storage but cannot send power back to the grid.

"This is the next evolution in solar energy systems. Solar power is a significant part of our plans to reach 100% renewable energy and an important option for our customers and we expect more customers will install self-supply systems," Hawaiian Electric SVP Jim Alberts said in a statement.

So far, HECO has installed two systems on Oahu, and 20 more have been approved for installation, under the Self-Supply option. According to the utility, approximately one-third of all single family homes on Oahu have been approved to install a rooftop solar energy system.

Customers of Maui Electric and Hawaii Electric Light may are in the same boat; both those utilities have already reached their grid-supply capacity limits.

Earlier this year, Sunrun completed installation of its first BrightBox solar-plus-storage system in Hawaii, which included Powerwall units from Tesla. That was also the first installation done under HECO’s grid-supply tariff option.

As the utilities continue to work on the grid and incorporate strategies for bringing more solar online, the self-supply systems may provide a stopgap before total integration is possible. The utility said the self-supply systems are being developed "specifically for the Hawaii market."

The Pacific Business News reports, HECO has proposed variable rates to enable a wide-scale demand response project that will also help incorporate solar power.