Hawaiian Electric adds incentives for its Battery Bonus program

Hawaiian Electric is offering new incentives for its Battery Bonus program.

The Battery Bonus program requires customers to use and/or export electricity stored in the battery on a firm two hour-schedule specified by Hawaiian Electric during the evening peak.

The new incentives, which take effect June 1, include a monthly export credit for Battery Bonus participants who are not part of the company’s Net Energy Metering program. The fixed monthly bill credit will be applied at an amount equivalent to the respective retail rate for exporting energy during a two-hour period of the evening peak. It is available for three years.

The company is also offering a $5-per-kW monthly peak capacity payment for the 10-year duration of Battery Bonus. In addition, it is removing the 5-kW-per-customer size limit for solar systems, as long as the additional solar is not more than twice the battery size.

“Battery Bonus is a great opportunity for customers to take action on climate change while reducing the upfront cost of their energy storage systems,” Lani Shinsato, Hawaiian Electric Customer Energy Resources co-director, said. “We appreciate the solar industry’s work to help strengthen the program, which supports the electric grid serving all customers.”

The new incentives complement the original features of the Battery Bonus program, which is capped at a total of 50 MW supplied from storage among all participants. The original incentive payments are $850 per kW for customers accepted for the first 15 MW; $750 per kW for those accepted for the next 15 MW; and $500 per kW for customers accepted for the last 20 MW.

“The program shows how stakeholders across the energy ecosystem can come together to create innovative new policies that harness the power and promise of distributed rooftop solar and energy storage as a cost-effective grid resource,” Rocky Mould, executive director of the Hawaii Solar Energy Association, said. “We look forward to continued collaboration to tap the value of customer-sited solar and strengthen Hawaiʻi’s resilience as we transition to 100% clean energy.”

Battery Bonus applications will be accepted through June 20, 2023, or until the cap is reached.