Hawaii

Background

Hawaii and solar seem like the perfect combination, and solar has already made significant inroads in the Hawaiian market. In fact, solar hot water systems cover almost half the homes on Maui and one-third of the homes on Oahu. Clearly folks in Hawaii know the value of solar energy. Solar PV has not reached the same level of penetration, but that should change soon.

On June 26, 2006, the Governor signed a revised solar tax credit bill (HB 2957) that significantly increases tax credits for solar energy in Hawaii. The 35% Hawaii state tax credit has no sunset date, and is now counted in addition to the Federal Investment Tax credit. With some of the highest electricity costs in the country, Hawaii has now positioned itself well to take advantage of the oncoming solar industry boom.

Policy Needs

The functionality of the state tax credit needs to be addressed; right now, businesses are having trouble leveraging this potentially significant incentive.

Net metering and interconnection still need to be settled in Hawaii. Right now, systems above 100 kW cannot be net metered (50 kW on Kauai), and interconnection is dicey for systems above the net metering limit. In order for the recently passed tax credits to impact the development of solar in the state, these regulatory barriers must be lifted.

Next Steps

Earlier this year, Governor Lingle signed an MOU with the U.S. DOE for the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative which has set an aggressive goal to have sufficient renewable energy resources to meet 70% of Hawaii’s energy demand by 2030. Expect exciting policy language to come from this process including, potentially, one of the country's first state-wide feed-in tariff program and fixes to the state's tax credit program.

Vote Solar lead for Hawaii is Gwen Rose.

last modified 10/10/08