Hawaiian Electric ends net metering in the state

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RegGuheert

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Somehow I missed it last year that Hawaii has ended their net metering.
RMI said:
In response to the PUC’s requirements, HECO proposed two new tariffs to replace the existing NEM arrangement. And on Monday of this week, the PUC approved (PDF) those proposed tariffs with some modifications:

- The “grid-supply” option is much the same as the existing net energy metering arrangement, except that instead of offsetting solar customers’ grid use with energy exported from their rooftop PV, it pays customers a reduced amount for any energy exported to the grid ($0.15–0.28 per kWh, compared to the state’s average residential rate of $0.38 per kWh in 2014).
- The “self-supply” option, in contrast, does not allow customers to export any rooftop PV energy back to the grid, except very limited amounts for a short duration. Any exported solar energy is not compensated by the utility, even though customers under this tariff will be subject to an expedited interconnection study.
Here is Hawaiian Electric's page on the topic:

Hawaii Electric: Net Energy Metering
Hawaiian Electric said:
The Net Energy Metering (NEM) Program is Closed to New Applicants
Hawaiian Electric said:
Customers with a current NEM agreement and those with complete pending applications submitted prior to Oct. 13, 2015 will continue under the NEM program.
Here is their page explaining the new options for rooftop PV in Hawaii:

Hawaiian Electric: Customer Grid-Supply and Self-Supply Programs

It seems that part of the reason Enphase released their S-series inverters and AC Battery was to comply with the new requirements set out by Hawaiian Electric:

Enphase Energy’s microinverter complies with new Hawaiian solar tariff requirements

In any case, I believe that with over 42,000 net metered customers Hawaii Electric had reasonable justification to make this change in order to ensure their grid remains stable. I also believe that this change creates the market for batteries that Tesla Energy and Enphase Energy intend to fill with their respective home-based battery solutions.

Related to this is the cooperation Enphase has given to Hawaiian Electric to try to keep their bread buttered in that state. Here are a few articles on that topic:

Enphase Energy and Hawaiian Electric Collaborate to Improve Stability of the Grid

GreenTechMedia: How HECO is Using Enphase Data to Open Its Grid to More Solar

Enphase Blog: 'Something Astounding Just Happened:' Enphase's Grid-Stabilizing Collaboration with Hawaiian Electric

The Energy Collective: Something Astounding Just Happened in the Solar Energy World
 
Wow, though it's great that they've just stopped accepting new customers. That's pretty reasonable. Hopefully as new solar customers install with batteries they begin to recognize the value of the power in these batteries and thus setup smart grid tech that'll utilize them and compensate owners for that. Such a great opportunity for a forward looking utility to start pushing smart grid tech and lead the country in distributed sustainable electricity generation helping prepare the rest of the country for when this starts happening elsewhere.
 
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