The War for Solar in Hawaii

 This Article is a copy of part of  todays  "The Green Chip Review" for this week dated 3/26/2010
 by Chris Nelder
To see the whole article  CLICK HERE

It shows how some of the back pedaling is being done by the fossil fuel big wigs.
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In a remarkably similar tale, a report from Hawaii last month detailed how the Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) proposed a total ban on rooftop solar systems connected to their grid. The move was in response to the unveiling of an aggressive new feed-in tariff (FIT) program adopted by the state PUC.

HECO had originally supported the FIT, and committed to a broad agenda that would obtain 70% of the state's power from clean energy by 2030. But when the program became real, it backpedaled with the usual whining and hand-wringing about maintaining grid stability, proposing instead that it form a working group to study (read: delay) the issue further.

As my readers know, I believe that FITs are the most effective, tried-and-true policy approach around for encouraging distributed renewable power, and I have hailed Hawaii's FIT as a promising step toward a national FIT model.

If the U.S. had any sense or vision at all, it would make Hawaii a proving ground for distributed renewable power. Being isolated, it is utterly dependent on imported fossil fuels, which provide 96% of its energy. Consequently, it pays the highest electricity rates in the nation.

Hawaii also has abundant sunshine and enormous marine energy potential. With the impetus of the FIT, it could show the rest of the country exactly how much of America's fossil fuel habit could be cured through renewables.

At this point, I don't know exactly what's behind HECO's ban... but it doesn't take much imagination to guess. Scratch a hoary utility, and you'll quickly find its fossil fuel bedfellows.

by Chris Nelder   The Green Chip Review