Hawai'i's Environment
First net meters go online
By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Columnist
The first Hawai'i residences have started hooking up to the electrical web using net metering, a system approved this year by the Legislature.
Under net metering, a small power generator can hook up to the grid and sell power at the same price at which it buys power when needs exceed production. The systems can be no larger than 10 kilowatts in capacity.
The state's first net-metered hookup is at the home and business of Tom and Lana Plum of sunny Kawaihae on the Big Island.
They installed a $70,000 system that put 48 150-watt photovoltaic panels on the roof of their home for a 7.2-kilowatt capacity. Their computer-consulting business uses a lot of power, so even the massive system they installed will produce only about one-third of their electricity, said Marco Mangelsdorf of ProVision Technologies, which designed and sold the system. ProVision is owned by HEI, the parent company of Hawaiian Electric Co.
The panels on a sunny day can produce more than 30 kilowatt-hours. That amount of power — stored in batteries so it is available night and day — could power two average Hawai'i households.
While solar photovoltaics are expensive, so is Hawai'i's electricity. When state and federal tax incentives are factored in, the Plum family's system should pay for itself in about 10 years, Mangelsdorf said.
He said his company is in discussions with several other homeowners about the installation of net-metering systems.
Inter-Island Solar has a system on its offices in Honolulu and is building a new home set up for net metering on the windward side, said Louis Valenta, the company's photovoltaic department manager.
The company has several other net-metered sites in planning, he said.
PowerLight Corp., a nationwide photovoltaic design, sales and installation firm, is working on several proposals for small net-metering systems for cabinetmaking shops, restaurants and professional buildings, said John Crouch, Pacific region director for the firm.
PowerLight normally limits itself to larger commercial installations. The company's most recent system, a 30-kilowatt solar system on the NN Automotive Group's Harley-Davidson dealership on Maui's Dairy Road, is too large for net metering, Crouch said.
However, interest in net metering has led it into smaller systems, he said.
Although windmills and other alternative energy sources can be used, the majority of the systems being considered now for net metering are solar photovoltaics, which use a technology that converts sunlight into direct-current electricity.
"I've had lots of requests for information on wind, but no buyers yet," said Inter-Island's Valenta.
Jan TenBruggencate is The Advertiser's Kauai bureau chief and its science and environment writer. You can call him at (808) 245-3074 or e-mail jant@honoluluadvertiser.com.
