A TALE OF TWO CITIES  Two recent news stories, which occurred in two US cities 2,500 miles apart, serve to illustrate how difficult it can be to make the transition to renewable energy in the US.The first story appeared in the Honolulu Star Advertiser, and most other Hawaii newspapers, on December 1, 2011. It ran under the headline: "PUC streamlines rules for PV interconnection to HECO grid." The article reported on a ruling by the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission (PUC). This is an independent, appointed commission responsible for regulating Hawaii's public utilities. Included is the Hawaiian Electric Company, which has subsidiaries on Maui and Hawaii Island. These islands are second and third largest, in terms of population, in the only island state in the US. Historically, Hawaii has been at the top of the list of all states in its reliance on imported fossil fuels -- oil and coal. Used for both electricity generation and as transportation fuels, these imports have created problems for Hawaii's environment and economy. Billions of dollars left the state to pay for its imported energy habit. At the same time, environmental pollution and destruction have been visited on this natural paradise. The good news is that the objective of the Hawaii PUC ruling is to make it easier for individuals and businesses that want to invest in rooftop solar photovoltaic(PV) renewable energy systems to do so. Like most states Hawaii has a net-metering law which requires the states' electrical utilities to accept applications to install these systems and to connect them to the utility grid. Thus the electricity produced by the rooftop systems powers island homes and businesses. In addition, any excess electricity generated by the PV systems goes into the grid and becomes a part of the electricity supplied by Hawaiian Electric to all its customers. However, the law also allowed the utility company to put a "cap" on the amount of renewable electricity it would allow on its grid. The utilities cited the difficulty of accepting the fluctuating voltage and frequency of the PV generated electriclty. They contended this made the grid more accident prone and costly to maintain. Under this system a building owner whose service was from a utility grid circuit with 15% or more renewable electricity was required to fund a costly Interconnection Requirement Study before their application would be accepted. The ideas was this would protect the grid from the effects of too much intermittent electricity. The effect was to turn off many individuals and businesses from investing in PV systems for their roof. The best news is that this latest PUC ruling makes it easier for those individuals and businesses to proceed. The new regulation creates a "streamlined supplemental review" for these cases and requires the utility to conduct the review, at no charge, and finish in just 20 days. The result? It is now easier and less expensive to participate in the movement to make Hawaii energy independent. A good thing for Hawaii's folks, environment and economy.  The second story comes from a small community in California. The result here was quite different. A municipal water district (MWD) in Valley Center, near San Diego, had plans to kill two birds with one solar powered stone. This organization is responsible for, among other things, development, operation and maintenance of reservoirs. Some time ago the MWD staff recommended the replacement of covers on some of its reservoirs. In an innovative move they also recommended that the new covers be fitted with PV systems. The theory was that the production of the renewable energy would help offset the cost of the new covers.However, the utility, San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E)recently presented the California PUC a request to apply a new "network usage charge" on customers with existing net metering contracts. In other words, the utility wants to charge producers of renewable energy a fee to use their grid to distribute the electricity. One of the consequences of an approval by the PUC will be to stop the Valley Center MWD projects. The new SDG:&E request will cut into the project budget to a degree that the projects will not go forward. Instead of selling the PV generated electricitly to SDG&E, and using the revenue to finance the new covers for their reservoirs the Valley Center folks are scrambling to find alternative financing. Two cities, with separate electric utilities and PUCs, have come up with different paths to what they hope will be a common destination. The problem is that the paths are rough and unexplored and some people - including individuals and businesses that want to invest in clean energy, won't make it all the way to their destinations. WHAT WE CAN DO In an undertaking of the scope we are now committed/committing to there will be casualties. Any fundamental change produces some chaos; people guess wrong on timing and scope; and many of us are reluctant to take chances at all. However, none of these facts are strong enough to derail what is becoming a legitimate movement. In the US renewable electricity, which has grown 86.6 percent since 1998 now comprises 10.6% of total electricity generation. In 2011 that that trend should continue to accelerate. The best way we can make sure that our development and deployment of renewable energy systems continues is to find ways to reduce our use of commercial electricity. Commercial and residential scale PV and other renewable energy technologies are no longer the only way to participate. Dedicated devices, which have one or more small to large solar panels are proliferating. The newest edition of the Toyota Prius now has an option for a "solar roof." A solar panel in the car's roof generated enough electricity to keep the air conditioning running when the car is parked. No more coming back to oven-like temperatures in our cars. Dedicated consumers can also find solar powered cell phone chargers, dedicated panels that can provide emergency power and more. We can choose to use less commercial electricity. We can also seek out other opportunities to look for opportunities to have the sun power our lives. If we do then we increase our ability to overcome the bureaucracies at the PUCs and electrical utilities. It won't matter what city, or countryside, we are in. We'll all be in it together. |