Hawaii's solar power flare-up
Too much of a good thing?
Nov 18 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Kim Murphy Los
Angeles Times
On an island whose stock in trade is sun, and lots of it,
Lawrence and Cindy Lee figured they'd be foolish not to join
their neighbors and put a few solar panels on the roof.
The Lees called one of the solar contractors racing around
Hawaii these days, and put in their order. Eleven months later,
in October -- after endless consultations, emails and a $3,000
study required by Maui Electric Co. -- they were still waiting
for a permit.
"Instead of it being like they want to help you get your
solar system in," Lawrence Lee said, "it's more like they don't
want you to."
Solar power has grown increasingly popular across the U.S.
Sun Belt, but hardly anywhere has it taken hold as it has in
Hawaii. Friendly tax credits, the highest average electricity
rates in the nation and the most aggressive renewable energy
program adopted by any state have sent homeowners scrambling to
install photovoltaic systems on their roofs.
The number of solar power systems across the island state has
doubled every year since 2007, with nearly 20,000 units
installed. But with homeowners and businesses now producing
nearly 140 megawatts of their own power -- the equivalent of a
medium-size power plant -- and solar tax credits biting
seriously into the state budget, Hawaii legislators and
electrical utilities are tapping the brakes.
Solar tax credits cost the state $173.8 million this year in
foregone revenue, up from $34.7 million in 2010, prompting state
tax authorities to announce this month that they will
temporarily cut the tax credit in half, effective Jan. 1.
Hawaiian Electric Co. on Oahu, which oversees subsidiary
utilities on Maui and the Big Island, has warned that the
explosion of do-it-yourself solar could threaten parts of the
power grid with the possibility of power fluctuations or
sporadic blackouts as the power generated by homeowners --
unpredictable and subject to sudden swings -- exceeded output
from power plants in some areas.
So rapid is the growth that Hawaiian Electric at one point
proposed a moratorium on solar installations, a plan that met
with immediate outrage and was quickly withdrawn. But utilities
are requiring expensive "interconnection" studies, such as the
one the Lees had to do, in solar-saturated areas to analyze what
impact a new unit is going to have on the utility system before
it can connect to the grid.
"The last three months are turning into a madhouse of solar
here on Oahu," Hawaiian Electric spokesman Peter Rosegg said.
"We're doing everything we can to get in as much solar as
possible, but there's a strong sense that we're kind of at a
crossroads here in trying to deal with these issues."
Hawaii has become a solar laboratory for the rest of the
country. Many states are experiencing sun-power booms, but few
have had their grids overwhelmed to the extent seen in Hawaii.
"No one knows exactly when this is going to take place, but
we are approaching a red line.... We will reach a point where
they will not accept any more generating capacity," said Marco
Mangelsdorf, who runs a private solar company, ProVision Solar,
and teaches energy politics at the University of Hawaii in Hilo.
Historically, power is supplied to homes and businesses from
big central power plants, easily controlled by engineers who
dial up the turbines when demand peaks, such as on hot
afternoons when customers come home and turn on air
conditioners. But the push for renewable energy has introduced
into the equation "nonfirm" power -- electricity generated by
wind, which comes and goes, or sun, which can suddenly disappear
behind a cloud.
As customers generate more than they need and feed the excess
back into the grid for others to use, it makes managing the
system much more complex. What happens when a cloud passes over
and dozens of rooftop units suddenly grind to a halt? What's to
be done on a sunny autumn day, when rooftop solar systems are
producing way more power than the grid can use?
The problem is especially pronounced in Hawaii, where each
island has its own isolated power grid and can't quickly
compensate with power generated elsewhere. The result, if not
carefully managed, can be computer-killing power surges (in
cases of excess generation), flickering lights, isolated
blackouts or worse.
"It can crash the entire system," said Robert Alm, executive
vice president of Hawaiian Electric.
California, which has more than 120,000 solar energy systems
online, doesn't have Hawaii's serious overload problems, but has
recently faced its own debate over how much can be paid to
solar-equipped homeowners for power they feed into the grid. The
Sacramento Municipal Utility District is studying Hawaii's
operations to learn what happens when solar power inundates a
power system.
"As an engineer, you always want to look at the worst-case
scenario. Well, they have it," project manager Elaine
Sison-Lebrilla said.
Hawaii finds itself pushing the envelope not just because of
its abundant sunshine. A bigger driver has been the state's
reliance on oil to fuel its power plants. Oil is always more
expensive than natural gas, but prices shot up even higher last
year when Japan's nuclear disaster sent demand, and soon prices,
skyrocketing on the Asian markets where Hawaii buys its
supplies.
The state has set a goal of obtaining 40% of its power from
locally generated renewable sources by 2030. Already, the Big
Island has jumped ahead and is producing 44% of its power from
renewable sources, and it could hit 100% by the end of the
decade.
Kauai announced earlier this month that it would build its
third large-scale solar plant and expected to generate half the
island's power by the sun soon. "Our understanding is that would
be the highest penetration of any utility, certainly in the
United States," said Jim Kelly, spokesman for Kauai Island
Utility Cooperative.
The state is studying a multibillion-dollar undersea cable
that would connect outlying islands -- the big generators of
wind, geothermal and solar power -- to Oahu, home to most of
Hawaii's population. This would not only allow them to serve as
energy farms for the state, but it would also allow the kind of
interconnected grid that would alleviate wind and solar
variability problems.
Over the last few months, new rules have liberalized the
standards for allowing solar connections, and a week ago, the
Lees completed their long journey through the energy
bureaucracy: They had their rooftop unit installed. They're no
longer worried about turning off the lights in empty rooms.
"I wish I hadn't had to go through all this," Lawrence Lee
said. "But it was worth it."
kim.murphy@latimes.com