LIHU‘E – Solar Power Generation USA this month named Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative the Solar Utility of the Year, even though KIUC has yet to generate significant solar energy for the grid since becoming a cooperative a decade ago. “We
LIHU‘E – Solar Power Generation USA this month named Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative the Solar Utility of the Year, even though KIUC has yet to generate significant solar energy for the grid since becoming a cooperative a decade ago.
“We are pleased the industry recognizes our significant accomplishments in renewable generation development as we progress towards meeting our goal of becoming 50 percent renewable by 2023,” KIUC president and CEO David Bissell said in a statement after the award was announced
on Feb. 1.
The award was presented at Solar Power Generation’s annual energy industry conference in Las Vegas in recognition of KIUC’s planned 12-megawatt Anahola solar project.
The Anahola project is a key part of KIUC’s strategic plan to become 50 percent renewable by 2023, the news release states.
To date, KIUC has installed 106 kilowatts of solar photovoltaic, which is located atop the co-op’s Port Allen facilities and some power poles, said KIUC production manager Brad Rockwell.
He said approximately 2 percent of the utility’s total energy in 2011 came from solar power through a power purchase agreement with a one-megawatt solar farm in Kapa‘a and through net metering.
Net metering is a statewide program that gives residential customers and small-scale electricity producers the opportunity to generate solar, wind, biomass or hydro power to offset their electricity bill.
“KIUC has a net metering program, which is fully subscribed and is not currently accepting new agreements,” said KIUC spokeswoman Shelley Paik.
“In March 2008, the (Public Utilities Commission) issued an order that generally raised both the individual system capacity limit and the aggregate capacity limit for net-metered systems,” Rockwell said in an email. “KIUC (has) reached the latest PUC-ordered (net-meter) capacity limit …”
KIUC’s current net metering capacity limit is 1 percent of its peak demand. Of this 1 percent, half is reserved for systems 10 kilowatts or smaller, according to the Department of Energy.
The PUC also ordered each utility to develop a pilot program allowing net metering to a limited number of 100-kilowatt to 500-kilowatt capacity systems and allowing for even larger systems “if technically and economically reasonable and practicable.”
Non-residential solar projects are expected to come online in 2012 that will likely add 6 million kilowatt-hours of energy, raising solar resources to 3.4 percent of total energy delivery, Rockwelll said.
“As previously announced, 10 megawatts (MW) (will be) from (commercial) power purchase agreements, 12 MW (will be) from the (KIUC) Anahola project and 4 MW is from customer-installed PV,” Paik said in an email.
“On a sunny day, all of these projects combined would provide nearly 50 percent of our island’s energy from solar.”
The 10 megawatts of commercially produced solar power is composed of the one-megawatt solar farm in Kapa‘a and two projects planned by private developers: a three-megawatt project by AES Solar in Koloa and six-megawatt project by A&B at Port Allen.
KIUC is providing utility-scale, battery storage systems with the projects. The solar energy battery system only holds a unit of energy for up to one hour, so its primary function is to level out intermittent power delivery to the grid caused by passing clouds — not provide continuous power through the night.
But for a small-scale, closed-loop utility like KIUC, even minor contributions and projects can have a major impact on the island’s renewable energy equation.
“The largest solar plant being built in the USA is 750 megawatts, in California,” Rockwell said.
“This plant, when online, will amount to about 1 percent of California’s record peak of approximately 55,000 megawatts. In comparison, the KIUC-HCDC Anahola solar project, when online, will amount to over 15 percent of KIUC’s record peak of 78 megawatts. This illustrates why this one project alone is so groundbreaking.”
The estimated capital cost of the Anahola Solar project is $50 million to $60 million before subsidies, he said. That equates to $4.2 million to $5 million per megawatt.
The co-op previously estimated that federal subsidies will cover about 50 percent of the project’s cost, reducing the bill to between $25 million and $30 million, or an average of about $1,000 to $1,200 for each active ratepaying member, based upon the 2011 ballot distribution count.
Continuing the Mainland comparison, the 750-megawatt California project is estimated to cost between $2.2 billion and $3 billion, or $2.9 million to $4 million per megawatt. After applying a 50 percent capital subsidy for advanced depreciation, the project will cost California’s utility company, PG&E, an average of $200 to $300 for each for its 5.1 million customers.
Solar Power Generation USA is an annual four-day Las Vegas conference of utility companies, utility-scale solar project contractors and solar product vendors.
• Vanessa Van Voorhis, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681, ext. 251, or by emailing vvanvoorhis@thegardenisland.com.
