Hawaiian Electric: Rooftop PV Continues Growth

With limited energy resources, solar is a hot topic throughout the state. As it continues to grow at record paces, Hawai’i remains a national leader in the solar photovoltaic industry with 20 times the national average in installation.

Utility service provider Hawaiian Electric says that their numbers have grown exponentially.  On the Big Island, Maui, and Oahu, a total of 69,330 rooftop solar photovoltaic net energy metering applications have been approved, including 15,000 applications that have been approved and processed during the past 9 months alone.

In October 2014, Hawaiian Electric says it had a backlog of 2,800 NEM applications that needed to be cleared. Those applications, along with more than 12,000 additional applications, have also been approved in a time frame of less than a year.

“Rooftop PV is an important option for many of our customers and a key part of the mix of renewable resources we need to meet our state’s goal of 100 percent renewable energy by 2045,” said Jim Alberts, Hawaiian Electric’s senior vice president of customer service. “We’re working hard to provide our customers with options that support the continued growth of solar energy in ways that are safe and reliable while ensuring fair treatment for all customers.”

“We’ve worked closely with the PV industry and manufacturers of solar equipment to make improvements that help customers install rooftop solar systems safely and reliably,” Albert said.