Grid defection and its increasing appeal was, in large part, behind the PUC’s decision to force the utility to come up with a plan that allowed for more rooftop solar integration. Wow, That is an interesting quote! Basically this suggests that the PUC recognized the potential for citizens to go off grid en masse if they were not allowed to connect to the grid with solar. The resulting proposal from Heco is an exercise in realigning incentives and disincentives in their favor. Meaning if an off grid system shows a LCOE( levalized cost of energy) of .30/kWh and our utility rate is .40/kWh, anyone that can access the $ will buy an off grid system and be done with the utility. Theyll save a dime on every kWh they purchase. Tens of thousands of dollars maybe hundreds of thousands ( if the system is large enough) over the system life. This is the citizens only two options in in the previous proposal by HECO. But if Heco allows more grid tied systems to be installed and charges more for them lets say the LCOE is .20 kWh ( just an example). Then their assumption is that the citizen is going to make the decision to wait and go for grid-tied access or do nothing because the cost of electricity is stabilized from the utility. Theyll save the dime/kWh here over getting an off grid system. The three options a citizen could have in HECOs new / current proposal are: 1. Do nothing a pay less than you currently do for electricity lets say its .30/kWh 2. Get an off grid system and save very little money. 3. Get a grid tied system and save a fraction of the money you could have under the previous plan. Heres the issue with this logic: 1. People dont want to wait 2. Companies will innovate with financing and technology to make off grid available sooner and cheaper. This will happen at light speed. 3. The utility rate decrease is likely to take a long time to realize. It will need to be financed or it will show a precipitous drop in the earnings report of the utility. 4. When a citizen gets an off grid system they have the added benefit of energy security. Meaning when there is a grid outage they will continue to have power. Conclusion: The ultimate irony here could be that enough homeowners cut the cord and opt for grid defection and then there arent enough rate payers to support the utility. In this circumstance we would have true grid instability as a result.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Sep 2014 16:07:38 +0000
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