Maui Electric representatives described in broader detail the recently announced plan to deploy utility owned residential storage assets with E-Gear LLC's EMC and Eguana/LG Chem AC Battery to evaluate its ability unlock further grid capacity on the island of Molokai. The success of this pilot will validate the ability of distributed energy storage to stabilize the island grids and increase grid carrying capacity for solar PV. Contrary to much of the press coverage on recent changes to the regulations around rooftop PV in Hawaii there was a clear will to collaborate between the PV industry, the utilities, and the regulator.
"The feedback from the industry on this project was phenomenal," noted Brent Harris, Chief Technology Officer at Eguana Technologies, who was on hand for the event last week. "While the advantages of deploying residential energy storage to support further solar PV installations are clear to all, it is taking time for installers to define new selling propositions under the recently introduced Customer Self Supply and Customer Grid Supply tariffs. The great news is that in addition to customer owned energy storage, utilities and aggregators are now deploying product under higher value business models and the PV industry is welcoming any and all of these three ownership scenarios as long as the result is continuing rooftop PV installations and continued progress toward 100% renewable energy for Hawaii."
