Hawaii Rejects Proposed Ban on Solar Energy

[jpak]

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS14303092420101022

The latest skirmish in an ongoing struggle between Hawaii’s largest utility and the state’s solar industry was settled earlier this month when state energy regulators rejected a proposed moratorium on new solar intallations and instead greenlighted a program intended to accelerate small solar development.

The state’s Public Utilities Commissionapproved a feed-in tariff programthat would allow renewable energy projects of up to 500 kilowatts to get paid for the power they feed back into the electrical grid.

The decision came despite requests from Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) to postpone the program over concerns that added distributed generation resources could destabilize the islands’ power grids.

Centralized or Distributed Generation?

At the heart of the conflict is how to meet the state’s aggressive renewable energy standards—whether with large utility-owned generating stations or from dispersed privately owned systems, such as residential and commercial solar installations.

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[HysteryDiagnosis]

1. Distributed power is infinitely more efficient... line loss is a

monster eating gigawatts from the grid every year... or maybe every month.

[TheMadMonk]

7. Line loss is a bit of a Furphy these days. Long distance losses are only...

...7% or so. IIRC the current record is 3% losses over seven(?) thousand kilometres.

A shift to ever higher voltages has allowed power companies to avoid an oft predicted coming crunch, where demand will outstrip the grid's national carrying capacity. The same shift to higher voltages also acomplished a five to tenfold reduction in transmission losses at the same time, putting an end to the argument you raise.

Still 5% or so of a fuckton is still at least a shitton, every KW/hr generated at the end of a long distribution line will represent a small reduction in line losses along the length of that line as the current it carries is reduced slightly and a net negative drain on the grid increases this effect further.

One argument I don't often hear in favour of distributed generation is that it significantly reduces the amount of grid infrastructure needed to meet any given overall demand.

Distributed power won't save us any great amount in terms of further efficiency. However, it would/will save us from the need to string one hell of a lot of new cable across the landscape.

[kristopher]

9. Not really true...

You wrote, "Distributed power won't save us any great amount in terms of further efficiency."

Your exception notwithstanding, an efficiency gain of 5-7% of is an extremely significant contribution; but even that is only a drop in the bucket compared to the total efficiency gains that a distributed grid make possible.

Currently more than 55% of the energy consumed in this country is wasted as result of our centralized system of large-scale generation designed around nuclear and fossil fuels.

A distributed grid is an integral part of the move to small scale renewable energy sources which are not subject to the same losses. It is unreasonable to expect that the move to renewables and a distributed grid would eliminate the full 55+% of what is currently wasted, but there is a lot (definitely a fuckton++) of improvement to be found with the change.

The grid would be far more dependable too.

[Warren Stupidity]

2. Of course. "destabilize the grid" or "the profits" more accurately.

Expect more such idiocy as solar and wind become more cost effective for small scale installations.

[glitch]

3. Their definition of power grid is much more extensive than simply electricity.

Power can mean so many things...

[kristopher]

5. Could you expand on that, the meaning eludes me...

Thank you in advance.

[glitch]

6. Power has more than one meaning, you're very bright, I am sure you can figure it out. ;) nt

[OnlinePoker]

4. Walking past base housing at Pearl Harbor, I'd estimate at least 50% had rooftop collectors.

I believe these are water heating systems rather than electric, but anything that saves energy is a plus.

[newfoxnose]

8. it depends

what are the capacity of grid and solar energy

http://wind-turbine-manufacturers.com