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.
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.
For more solar and renewable energy news [SolarAccess.com]
