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Home My WebLink AboutCOM 0778.004 2010-2012 P/AWESt Murashige, Laura c�' m�� 7 From: Shane Wiley [shanewiley @me.com] Sent: Monday, July 16, 2012 10:52 PM To: counciltestimony@co.hawaii.hi.us Cc: Cheatham Shane Subject: Resolution 277-12 Increase Solar Feed-In from 15% to 50% Testimony Attachments: Resolution 277_12 Increase Solar Feed-In.pdf Resolution 277_12 Increase Sol... Dear Council Members, Please see attached pdf file for my testimony. Mahalo, Shane Wiley Mechanical Engineer 2001 FE Mechanical Engineering Certification ma C:) , Comm. N9.,./ 1 8• q 1 Ref. To: r/ Pt'WES Ref. Dote .1111 1 8 26914? Resolution 277-12 Increase Solar Feed-In from 15%to 50% Benefits/Concerns A Review of the Benefits/Concerns with Passing Resolution 277-12 by Shane Wiley Table of Contents Summary 2 Facts 3 Solar Costs are Declining 3 Solar Financing Available 4 Peak Oil is Here 4 Benefits 5 Local Security 5 Huge Cost Savings to Hawaii Residents 5 Solar versus Geothermal 5 Solar versus Geothermal...continued. 6 Concerns 6 Helco power grid 6 Conclusion 6 1 Resolution 277-12 Increase Solar Feed-In from 15%to 50% Benefits/Concerns Summary Passing Resolution 277-12 is very important for Hawaii residents because solar can increases energy security in a rising oil price market, solar will/does cost less then fossil fuel and geothermal, private organization are ready to give low leasing options for solar, solar will save Hawaii's residents thousands of dollars, and solar is the safest of all clean renewable energy sources. There are some concerns that the Hawaii's grid will not be able to support an increase in solar power without costly upgrades to the system; let's let an independent study determine the cost of upgrading the system and then possibly utilize our tax payer dollars to upgrade to a smart system, instead of upgrading to other unsafe and more costly energy options like geothermal. Passing this resolution is a great choice for Hawaii! 2 Resolution 277-12 Increase Solar Feed-In from 15%to 50% Benefits/Concerns Facts Solar Costs are Declining Please see chart below and quotes to the right. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21, ... ..m. ...__.. . .. . 2012 Total Installed PV System Pt w Stunning Fact:$2.69 Per Costs of lEtectrkety Giobei Av r Watt For Solar In 2012 $7.20 "A revolutionary$2.69 per 67 00 4" x7 +sM watt will be the global ' average solar price for an installed system during 2012. $3'7 _ 1""21 Clean Energy Trends 2012 Report. See page 5 of the fix'"' ''=" .- - report. Just wow! At that 12 19 9$20/2 6 1t price, solar competes with /117 14 �� 7 14 grid power in many ° ,', " locations in the world and .._ _:. 11.60 6. 12 USA." 11.46 6.11 11:x7 6*10 Source:John Hanger Blog $1.x8 x"10 "By the year 2020, manufacturers in the United States could make solar panels that are less than The price of solar has dropped by over 36% in the past 5 half as expensive as the ones they make now. That years and will continue to decline at a faster rate would be cheap enough for because: solar power to compete • Solar panel design follows Moore's Law. Just like in the with electricity from fossil computer industry the size of the panel required to fuels, according to a new power someones home will decrease thus decreasing study in Energy& the cost of solar energy. Environmental Science."- • Larger scale investment will increase thus lowering MIT Report manufacturing costs. Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimates that solar investment in the last year has Source: Technology Review gone up by 49% to $85 billion,, with much of that new investment going into larger arrays. • Government incentives. When the government supports tax incentives for something it boosts consumer adoption, which increases scalability. 3 Resolution 277-12 Increase Solar Feed-In from 15%to 50% Benefits/Concerns Solar Financing Available There are many financial organizations that will provide zero down loans or lease programs for people to get solar systems at lower costs than what they are paying for electricity today in Hawaii. See benefits section for a more detailed analysis of cost. Many of the solar providers in Hawaii are ready to provide these services to Hawaii residents. A couple local Solar providers • Hawaii Solar & Wind, LLC • Sun Run Inc. A a few loan financing companies: • ABN AMRO • US Renewables Group • Chestnut Capital Peak Oil is Here The price of our current energy plan will only increase because it is based on oil. The price of oil will increase since we are just reaching peak oil. The image below shows that approximately 2011 or 2012 is peak oil. This comes from World production forecast Made by Khebab of The Oil Drum in 2006 via www.wikipedia.com. r1..+.****I. 40 4200,. r ? t- r OM . to flow COW lbowerook 4C0.024 ' tJ - . Loom*04 tap*moeMcD oc1 r .....s tiresr a '0 • aaru tim o4stco•limr Wooloor Oft S,i Nea w«o rtco wwa no' Sao ,P 4 Resolution 277-12 Increase Solar Feed-In from 15%to 50% Benefits/Concerns Benefits Local Security Moving towards solar will provide Hawaii residence a Supports Home Rule. No since of security during a declining energy market. need for dirty energy to be Here on the islands we get plenty of sun to power our shipped into Hawaii. business and homes. Huge Cost Savings to Hawaii Residents For approximately $109/month, a home owner could Over a 30 year life span for a own a 520 mWh/month solar power system in 10 520 mWh/month solar years that would last them somewhere between 20 - system a home owner would 30 years. save over $35,000 dollars without including the Note:A home electrical bill now for 332kWh of power increase in electrical cost per month supports 4 people working from home for due to peak oil. $134 per month. The residents do use energy saving appliances, lights, etc. Solar versus Geothermal Solar no pollution. • Health and Safety - geothermal posses many possible health risks to the community due to the Geothermal toxic gases. toxic gases that can be released into the community. Solar in comparison produces no toxic materials on residents. Solar panel manufacturing may cause some social injustices in foreign countries where people must work long hours at low pay and in harsh environments. The selection of panels from ethical companies will be important. • Economic - Solar values are associated with the 2007 solar$7.20/watt costs to create a safe margin Solar is over 15% cheaper of cost comparison. We can power all of Hawaii's than geothermal. This 15% homes for somewhere between $6.37 to $9.55 is a very safe number based billion dollars with 3 to 2 residents (2011 Census) on 2007 cost of solar. living in a home respectively with a monthly 520 kWh usage. This $6.37 to $9.55 billion dollar investment into solar would result in approximately Puna Geothermal states that 1,764MW to 2,647MW of power respectively. In a 500MW power plant, which comparison, based on a 1987 Hawaii Geothermal includes an underwater Economic Analysis report made by the Northwest cable to Oahu, is Economic Associates, just to produce 500MW of "technically feasible, but too geothermal power with cables from Big Island to costly without considerable Oahu will cost approximately $4 billion versus $3.6 government subsidies." Tax billion to produce 500MW of solar power. Payer dollars. 5 Resolution 277-12 Increase Solar Feed-In from 15%to 50% Benefits/Concerns Solar versus Geothermal...continued. Solar can be on every home! • Security - solar energy will be dispersed throughout the island versus geothermal, which will be located Geothermal can only be in only a few spots, all off which are in high risk lava located in a few places. Most flow zones that could result in Hawaii's power being of which are Lava Zone 1...the destroyed practically overnight by a big lava flow. most risky for a lava flow. Concerns Helco power grid As understood, Helco is claiming to have difficulty Suggest that an independent supporting the upgrade of their system and are study be performed to requiring those that wish to install solar to perform determine the cost for independent analysis, which are currently being done upgrading in bulk the Helco by Helco, of the Helco system so they can upgrade if system to support more solar necessary to support the added power supplies. This power. piecemeal analysis is costly to residents and investors. Suggest that a quick (1 -2 month) broad Suggest Hawaii invest tax study be done by both Helco and 3rd party suppliers payer dollars into upgrading to determine the rough cost to upgrade the entire power grid for solar versus system by community areas. Geothermal. Conclusion Solar is the future of Hawaii so lets insure it has the best chance of growing here. Solar will be able to provide the energy demands of both industry and residential costs. Let's make "Solar" the choice for Hawaii. 6