The Hawaii Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has issued an order approving feed-in tariffs (FITs) for the Hawaiian Electric Cos. (Hawaiian Electric Co., Hawaii Electric Light Co. and Maui Electric Co.) for renewable energy generators of up to 500 kW in size in order to facilitate the acquisition and development of renewable energy in Hawaii.
The approved tariffs include applicable pricing, terms and conditions; a standard form of contract; and queuing and interconnection procedures for the FIT program.
The PUC previously issued general principles for the FIT program, and encouraged the parties to the PUC's FIT docket to first focus on developing tariffs for renewable energy generating units of up to 500 kW in order to facilitate the immediate implementation of a FIT for generators of this size. This step has been completed. The PUC and parties to the docket will next focus on developing a FIT for larger generating units of up to 5 MW.
The PUC issued the order after developing an extensive record in its FIT proceeding involving many stakeholders. In the order, the PUC noted that the parties were unable to reach consensus on all issues and acknowledged that there may be a multitude of alternative ways of implementing the FIT, and virtually unlimited adjustments that could theoretically be made to the program.
In the PUC's view, however, none of the issues that were raised with respect to the Hawaiian Electric Cos.' proposed FITs appeared to be fatal flaws that warranted any further delay in the development and implementation of the FIT program. The PUC stated that the better course is to proceed, learn from experience, and make necessary changes and improvements upon the PUC's next opportunity to review the FIT program in two years.
The PUC's order and entire docket record may be accessed here.
SOURCE: Hawaii Public Utilities Commission
