Homeowners frustrated over Hawaii Electric’s reluctance to add more solar power systems to their grid may soon have another option.
SolarCity announced the addition of battery sustained photovoltaic systems into the residential market. Their design lets customers gather and store solar power throughout the day in batteries, using it at night when it’s most needed. Homes would still be connected to the Hawaii Electric grid, but only drawing power if it were needed.
The price breakdown averages to around twenty-three-thousand-dollars for a five-kilowatt, twenty-panel system. Jon Yoshimura is the Director of policy and Electricity markets for Solar City Hawai‘i. He says the system is designed to correspond with the Public Utilities Commission’s “self-supplied” tariff that expedites the approval timeline down to around a month.
Although the Solar City Photovoltaic system is currently only available on Oahu and Hawaii Island, the company is considering an expansion to Maui County.
