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Senate advances measure to streamline interconnection for grid-ready homes and add vehicle-grid language; utilities urge PUC coordination
Summary
Senators recommended passage of SB 587 with technical changes, including vehicle-to-grid language and removal of meter-socket-adapter language; Hawaiian Electric and other utilities asked the PUC and stakeholders to resolve operational and equity questions before prescriptive changes.
A Senate committee on Jan. 29 advanced SB 587, a measure intended to streamline interconnection and preparation of “grid-ready” homes and to facilitate higher penetration of distributed energy resources (DERs), while adopting amendments and punctuating that utilities and regulators need coordination on some technical decisions.
The committee said it would adopt several technical and substantive changes, including removing meter-socket-adapter language suggested by KIUC, adding vehicle-to-grid/grid-to-vehicle provisions suggested by the Hawaii Solar Energy Association and defecting an effective date (the record references a legislative deferral date in the amendments). Committee chairs directed that the bill incorporate those stakeholder edits.
Proponents including the Hawaii Solar Energy Association said the measure would help the power system accept new grid-interactive technologies that allow higher renewable penetration and lower costs to ratepayers. Rocky Mould, executive director of the Hawaii Solar Energy Association, told senators the bill “sets up a process to get our system ready for the future that’s coming with new innovative grid interactive technologies.”
Hawaiian Electric support staff testified in writing and in person but opposed the bill’s prescriptive language, urging the matter be handled through the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) docket already addressing interconnection and grid services. Hawaiian Electric’s Kaiulani Shinsato said the utility has a performance-incentive mechanism and recent improvements: “On Oahu last year, we were down to 10.5 business days on average in intaking an application, giving it a technical review, and giving the customer a green light to install.” Shinsato and others asked the committees to preserve the PUC’s ongoing work and to coordinate on equity and reliability concerns — for example, how grid credits are structured and whether retail-rate credits create cross-subsidies.
The committees’ decision language indicated adoption of suggested amendments: technical edits, removal of meter-socket-adapter language, inclusion of vehicle-to-grid/grid-to-vehicle language and a modified effective date. The chairs’ recommendation to pass with amendments was adopted; several committee members recorded reservations on rate effects.
Why it matters: The bill addresses bottlenecks in interconnection and seeks to prepare Hawaii’s grid for two-way energy flows from rooftop solar, storage and vehicle-grid resources. Utilities warn that changes touching compensation and interconnection standards have operational and equity implications and urged PUC-led rulemaking.
What’s next: The committees advanced the measure with the adopted amendments and asked parties to coordinate with the PUC docket that is already addressing retail crediting and grid services.
