Kauai Goes 80% Solar

A&B solar farm at Port Allen, with KIUC’s battery storage system. Source: KIUC Currents, December 2012

I have been writing positively on solar for years. Debbie and I have 2KW of solar here in Key West. A few days ago we were reading in our back cottage overlooking our fishpond and noticed that the lights were out in our front house. I initially thought it could be a blown fuse. But no, it was one of our periodic KW power outages caused by any one of a number of regular Keys’ power problems.

Well we did not miss a beat in the part of our property (including the refrigerator) that is tied into our solar system. I would tie in all of our property, but we have insufficient south-facing roof space to accommodate more PV panels. We sell back to our local utility the power we generate but do not need.

Two things to keep in mind regarding solar: (1) It is not cost effective. You install solar because you are paranoid, like me, and worry about such things as a power outage that could cripple the local power grid for months. (2) You cannot have any foliage screening any part of your PV array or you will generate squat for juice. Remember the old Christmas tree light strings? If one bulb blew, the whole string was kaput. Well solar PV panels act in a somewhat similar fashion.

Now on to Kauai. MIT Technology Review lays out the story of how this Hawaiian island has jumped some difficult hurdles to approach a state of 80% solar sufficiency. This exciting news is but the tip of the iceberg about what you will be reading here at richardcyoung.com in coming months. Solar is making rapid headway that you are unlikely to read much about in the general media.