Hawai'i Utility Companies Put Renewable Energy Monitors Online (solar, gas, natural)

[OpenD]

The State of Hawai'i is a leader in incorporating renewable energy sources into its energy portfolio. Hawai'i Island (the Big Island) is expected to hit the 50% renewables mark for retail electricity consumed by next year, and the state as a whole is at 13%. The state already has the highest solar energy utilization in the country as measured in watts per capita.

Now the combined electric companies for the islands of Oahu (Honolulu), Maui, and Hawai'i have gone online with daily graphic monitors of solar and wind generation, and how they map against gross usage. It's interesting to me to track how wind power often complements solar by increasing in early evening hours after the sun goes down.

Here's the monitor for Oahu: Hawaiian Electric: Renewable Watch

Here's the monitor for Maui: Maui Electric: Renewable Watch

Here's the monitor for Hawai'i Island: Hawaii Electric Light: Renewable Watch

And this is from the press release about the new resources:

Each island’s display shows the measured output from large wind and solar facilities combined with the estimated output from residential rooftop PV systems. These sites graphically show how renewable energy resources can vary significantly by region, day, and time of day due to changes in weather, such as wind strength and cloud cover. (Non-variable renewable energy generation -- such as geothermal on Hawaii Island, bagasse-fired generation from HC&S on Maui and HPOWER on Oahu -- are not shown.)

“Hawaii is blessed with abundant sunshine and strong winds. With the ‘Renewable Watch’ displays, anyone can see at a glance that these are extremely productive resources with output that varies throughout the day,” said Scott Seu, Hawaiian Electric vice president for energy resources and operations. “With the help of these resources and others, we reached a record 18% renewable energy percentage in 2013.”

The Solar Electric Power Association ranks Hawaii number one in the nation for solar watts per customer. At the end of 2013, over 40,000 solar installations across the three companies’ service territories had a combined capacity of about 300 megawatts.
To maintain reliable electric service for all customers, utility engineers must adjust the output of firm sources of generation up or down as the output from variable sources like solar and wind rises and falls throughout the day. The Hawaiian Electric Companies developed “Renewable Watch” to help system operators and engineers obtain information about the contribution of energy from the variable solar and wind resources.

“This information can help us integrate higher levels of renewable energy more effectively. Solar and wind power are increasingly important to our energy mix, so we need to understand when and how these resources affect our system,” Seu said.

Hawaiian Electric: Hawaiian Electric Companies share daily solar and wind power data

[DCforever]

If you have wind, solar, a little natural gas and some direct load control, I think you could build a very green supply system. Wind at night, solar during the day and nat gas/DLC to get through the valleys in supply.