The Hawaii Public Utilities Commission on Wednesday issued an
order approving feed-in tariffs (FIT) for the Hawaiian Electric Companies for
renewable energy generators of up to 500 kW in size, to facilitate the acquisition and
development of renewable energy in Hawaii.
The approved tariffs include applicable
pricing, terms and conditions, a standard form of contract, and queuing and
interconnection procedures for the FIT program.
The Commission previously issued general principles for the FIT program, and
encouraged utilities to first
focus on developing tariffs for renewable energy generating units of up to 500 kW, to
facilitate the immediate implementation of a FIT for generators of this size.
The Commission will next focus
on developing a FIT for larger generating units of up to 5,000 kW (i.e., 5 MW).
Traditionally, renewable energy project developers have had to enter into complex and
time-consuming negotiations with the Hawaiian Electric Companies (Hawaiian
Electric Company, Hawaii Electric Light Company, and Maui Electric Company) to sell electricity to
the utilities.
FITs provide standardized pricing, terms and conditions, and procedures that
are intended to afford the renewable energy project developers with clear, consistent
guidelines that accelerate the completion of the renewable energy projects and provide
some assurance of adequate compensation to cover the developer’s reasonably incurred
costs.
In the order, the Commission noted that
the parties were unable to reach consensus on all issues and acknowledged that there
may be a multitude of alternative ways of implementing FIT and virtually unlimited
adjustments that could theoretically be made to the program. In the Commission’s view,
however, none of the issues that were raised with respect to the Hawaiian Electric
Companies’ proposed FITs appeared to be fatal flaws that warranted any further delay in
the development and implementation of the program.
The Commission said
the better course is to proceed, learn from experience, and make necessary changes and
improvements upon the Commission’s next opportunity to review the FIT program in two
years.
In Related News…
In a big win for Vermont’s nascent feed-in tariff program, the state’s Public Service Board (PSB) ruled today that they see no conflict between the state’s program and the federal government.
Read the full story by Paul Gipe of Wind-Works.org at the link below.
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