The commission last Friday suspended an application by the Hawaii Electric Light Company to build an above-ground transmission line for a proposed substation that would support 27 Feed-In-Tariff solar projects.
Hawaii FIT
In their complaint submitted this week to state regulators, Peter Bosted and Ann Bosted, residents of Ocean View, said “feed-in tariff” program permits should not have been issued to the developers of the project for several reasons.
Hawaii’s utilities just resubmitted long-term energy plans to the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission, and there was at least one very nice surprise: Hawaii Electric Light Company (HELCO), the utility that serves the Big Island, now plans to achieve 92 percent renewable electricity by 2030.
The most reliable tool for achieving higher RES targets is the feed-in tariff. Feed-in tariffs around the world have unleashed the renewable energy markets and produced large amounts of new power generation rapidly and often cost-effectively. The very first feed-in tariff in the world was right here in the U.S., and it was part of the Public Utilities Regulatory Policy Act (PURPA).
Replacing the current FiT with a new FiT that offers less financial rewards seems like a guaranteed loser until one realizes the original intent of the FiT mechanism under the HCEI Energy Agreement was to replace net energy metering.
REACH’s wrapup summary of renewable legislation that was considered by Hawaii’s state legislature during its 2014 session, including 100% RE, storage, grid modernization, net-metering, and various renewable energy tax credits.
Hawaii regulators are re-examining a program that’s designed to encourage the addition of more renewable energy projects in Hawaii called the feed-in-tariff, or FIT, program.
Expected interest in Hawaii’s feed-in tariff program has not materialized says a report by the program’s independent observer. Accion … Read more
