Hawaii

Also in the brief: A great month for solar in Oahu, Connecticut’s two biggest electric utilities are “dragging their feet” on shared solar, and Ørsted in Rhode Island.

Also in the brief: Engie and JLL develop an energy program for State Fund, Oklahoma Gas and Electric is set to develop solar projects for the Chickasaw and Choctaw tribes, PG&E pays Topaz in January.

Cutting costs and integrating clean energy with local reactive power generation.

Also in the brief: Solar Support partners with SEMIKRON to tackle utility-scale inverter stack shortage, investors say changes at Hawaiian Electric can ‘happen fast,’ Dynamic Energy sells 11 MW solar + storage portfolio to Amp Energy and more.

Solar contractors added another 1.8 gigawatts of small-scale solar in the ten sunniest states last year. In Hawaii and California, solar groups described their ambitious policy goals to keep the momentum going.

“Smart imports” could be the solution Hawaii needs. Two new bills that would allow smart imports are pending this month in Hawaii’s 2020 legislative session.

Stem, a behind-the-meter energy storage startup that has raised hundreds of millions, is up for sale, according to reports in SparkSpread.

Solar industry veteran Marco Mangelsdorf of ProVision Solar, headquarted in Hilo, Hawaii, compiles the solar permit data for the last few years and finds some cause for hope in Hawaii’s volatile solar market. Marco has the numbers.

To integrate an increasing percentage of renewables, Hawaiian Electric has turned to a standard solar+storage framework, matching all new solar capacity with an equal capacity of storage with four-hour duration.

The Hawaiian island of 70,000 residents has achieved this feat on 11 different occasions since before Thanksgiving, anchored by a five-hour period on December 10. Plus, a world tour of high-penetration renewable hotspots.