PERSPECTIVE
WORLD-GENERATION NOV/DEC 2015
22
When you get a group of utility execu-
tives together -- a significant number of
them wearing Hawaiian shirts -- unusually
frank and insightful conversations can take
place.
“There is a clear need for us think about
not just the revenue model for the future but
what is the business model and value and
the product model that utilities are going to
offer in the future. We today just offer kilo-
watt hours, that’s what all of our pricing
models are really based on. We’ve got to
move to a place where we’re something else,
and the something else is a reliability indus-
try; it’s a something that offers real value to
customers in a way that at the same time
recognizes that they can have differentiated
options for different products and services
that we offer.”
The setting for the above quote was a
hotel meeting room in Honolulu -- hence the
Hawaiian shirts -- where about 20 utility
executives were closing out the Solar
Electric Power Association’s (SEPA’s) recent
fact-finding mission to Hawaii. The person
speaking, along with others in the room,
had spent the previous three days immersed
in Hawaii’s high-penetration solar market --
one in three single-family homes here have
rooftop panels -- and how the islands’ utili-
ties are dealing with the onslaught.
The meeting was also held under
ground rules ensuring participants’ anonym-
ity, which encouraged the candid exchange
of ideas.
They were all extremely aware of the
utility industry’s need to change its internal
thinking, business models and customer
relations strategies, and they also saw clear
connections between what is happening in
Hawaii and what they are or may soon be
facing in their own home markets.
THE TECHNOLOGICAL-REGULATORY
DISCONNECT
Utilities and the regulatory bodies that
oversee them think and act in long-term
time frames. The solar and cleantech indus-
tries -- driven by innovation, market competi-
tion and a disruptor mentality -- are moving
at exponentially increasing speeds.
And the markets are moving with them.
The SEPA mission heard from more than
one Hawaiian official that the drivers for the
state’s recently passed mandate to run 100
percent on green energy by 2045 were as
much economic as environmental -- reduc-
ing greenhouse gases and customer choice,
promoting renewables and creating jobs.
The result of the technological-regulato-
ry disconnect, said one participant, is that
“utilities end up in situations where we’re
saying no. We hear a question like ‘how
much (solar) can we take’ and we go into
our mode of -- well, what are the technologi-
cal limits of the system, or when do I have to
make a big investment? We need to ask
‘What are you trying to accomplish? What is
your goal and objective, and how do I help
you get there?’ How do we as a company
and industry help achieve that?”
Another pitfall of saying no to a specific
operational challenge -- such as putting 50
percent or 100 percent renewables on the
grid -- is the potential for backlash when the
inevitable technological fix is found, another
participant added.
“Utility engineers are great at fixing
stuff. The utilities figure it out; we always
figure it out.”
“We’ve got to get comfortable not know-
ing -- going in -- exactly how we’re going to
do it and rely on each of our capabilities to
solve problems,” a third participant said.
“(With) just stubborn commitment to get
something done, we can do amazing things.
That’s not utility culture. It’s very careful,
very risk averse, very cautious.”
Whatever uncertainties the energy
industry now faces, one thing we can
know for sure is that the challenges will
keep coming, as will the need for multiple,
flexible solutions that can be adapted for
regional conditions.
Julia Hamm is SEPA’s President and
CEO. She can be reached at jhamm@solar-
electricpower.org.
BACK ON CAMPUS WITH JULIA HAMM,CLASS OF 2012
MANY VISIONS,MANY ROAD MAPS NEEDED
S&C’s Dan Girard, Class of 2015,
spoke to
World-Gen
during SPI in
Anaheim.
One of his new tasks is to focus on the
municipal utility market to talk solutions.
“We think our overall microgrid offerings
and overall solar and energy storage really
tie into the needs of the munis and where
they want to head,” he told
World-Gen
in
an interview at their SPI exhibit.
He went on to say that S&C was just
awarded a new project by renewable ener-
gy developer, Half Moon Venture (HMV)
to supply and build a 7MW energy storage
facility for the Village of Minster, a local
muni in Ohio.
HMV will use S&C’s 7 MW
PureWave® SMS Storage Management
System, providing fully integrated storage
management and power conversion for 3
MWh of lithium ion-batteries. The system
will be tied to HMV’s adjacent 4.2MW
solar plant, allowing Minster to further
reduce their peak demand charges in the
middle of the day. The solar +storage sys-
tem will be the largest facility of its kind
connected through a municipal utility in
the US.
S&C also advises clients on battery and
solar panel acquisitions. “Our engineers do
front-end vetting on both,” he offered.
Like most of the SPI delegates, he
wanted to see the ITC subsidy remain past
2016. “I think they need to float it out and
continue projects two to three years until
it’s done,” he suggested as an alternative.
While S&C doesn’t deal much in the
“resi-side,” he sees a robust market in
community solar both for munis and large
companies investing in the market. “I
think community solar is the next wave,”
he envisions, especially as the millennials
enter the market. “We figure out how
much your usage is, and a fee is assessed,
much like a service fee in a condo.
Another advantage is worry-free mainte-
nance, inverter failure prevention, and
interconnects with the utility.”
BACK ON CAMPUS WITH
DAN GIRARD,CLASS OF 2015
