FIT (Feed In Tariff) Is it worth it?

[minh808]

I Hawaii our electric company offers a program in which they buy back excess energy at a rate of $0.21 and charge you the going rate for what ever you consume.

It took me awhile to decide on going this route as it very unclear what type of hidden fees will come up. So I'm starting this tread to provide my findings as the months go by to help others see if its right for them. If anyone is on the program please share your findings.

Thank you

[Sunking]

I Hawaii our electric company offers a program in which they buy back excess energy at a rate of $0.21 and charge you the going rate for what ever you consume.

What is the going rate for a Kwh in Hawaii. I have heard around $0.45/Kwh. If that is the case, not likely to achieve an ROI.

[Naptown]

Looks like they will pay you or each KWH you generate.
however check here to make sure

Public Information - Hawaii PUC
Hawaii Public Utilities Commission
465 South King Street, Room 103
Honolulu, HI 96813
Phone: (808) 586-2020
E-Mail: Hawaii.PUC@hawaii.gov
Web Site: http://www.hawaii.gov/budget/puc

HECO FIT Inquiries
Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc.
P.O. Box 2750
Energy Procurement CP21-XB
Honolulu, HI 96840-0001
Phone: (808) 543-4044
Fax: (808) 543-7519
E-Mail: FIT@HECO.COM
Web Site: http://www.heco.com

[Guest]

I can certainly offer some international insights into how things might pan out for you, having seen a Feed-In Tariff scheme introduced where I am based (the United Kingdom). I recall being in a very similar position to you in terms of wondering how much ROI there might be over set timescales given variables like the cost of solar panels and so on. What surprised me was a number of factors I did not take into account at the start.

One of these was legislative change: less than a year into our Feed-In Tariff scheme, government legislation cut the Tariff rate for large scale PV installations. It then made further cuts in the following year. Accordingly, legislative change is an important consideration.

At the time of writing, the rates we get are as follows:

Standard solar photovoltaic receiving the lower rate	50-250	0.34
Standard large solar photovoltaic	250-1000	1.48
1000-5000	0.34
Stand-alone solar photovoltaic	0-5000	0.19

So as low as 0.19 GBP (this equates to $0.27 p/kWh). If of interest, you can find out more about renewable growth on a more macro level below:

MOD Note. Please contact the Admin before posting business advertisements.

[reader2580]

A lot has changed in Hawaii with regards to solar since this thread started back in 2012. Most new residential solar installs are not allowed to export any energy to the grid. In many neighborhoods so much solar electricity is being sent onto the grid that the grid connections to the neighborhoods are getting overloaded.

Electric rates are sky high in Hawaii so solar is very popular.