KIUC proposes NEM pilot program

LIHU‘E — Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative submitted a proposed net energy metering pilot program to the Hawai‘i Public Utilities Commission after KIUC, the Consumer Advocate, Hawai‘i Renewable Energy Association and Hawai‘i Solar Energy Association signed a stipulated agreement on the proposed program, a KIUC news release says.

The KIUC Board of Directors approved the proposed program at a special meeting of the board on Oct. 14.

The goal of the proposed NEM pilot program is to analyze the customer benefit and interest in NEM for customer generators. The pilot program will also analyze the financial impact of NEM on KIUC and its members from increased NEM penetration, the release says.

The proposal that was submitted to the PUC includes the NEM pilot program for KIUC and a proposed alternative rate structure. KIUC’s NEM pilot program will allow renewable customer generators to supply their own power needs and be paid $0.20/kWh for power they export to the utility. When they do not have sufficient power to supply their own needs, they will pay regular tariff rates for the power they receive from the utility.

If approved by the Public Utilities Commission, the pilot program will accept applications to participate on a first come, first served basis for a period of three years, or until 3 MW of AC generation capacity is reached. Of the 3 MW, 2 MW of generation capacity if reserved for facilities sized from 50 kW to 200 kW.

The remaining 1 MW of generation capacity is set aside for facilities less than 50 kW with 50 percent of the 1 MW reserved for systems sized 10 kW or smaller and the remaining 50 percent is allocated to systems sized between 10-50 kW. The program will allow existing customer generators under Schedule “Q” agreements to convert to the NEM Pilot Program.