On Tuesday, July 10, 2018, from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., Hawaiian Electric Companies will offer an online webinar to provide information to any company, organization, developer or group interested in proposing a solar project under the first phase of the Community-Based Renewable Energy program. The program officially launches on July 11.

Participants will be required to register online before obtaining the number to join the audio portion of the webinar. The webinar will be recorded and available for those who wish to view it later on the Hawaiian Electric Companies websites. A link to register is available online.

The password “cbre123” is required to complete the brief registration process.

As approved by the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), community solar aims to provide the benefits of solar energy to residential and commercial customers without access to privately-owned rooftop solar, including many renters and apartment dwellers.

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Before individual customers can participate, subscriber organizations will need to be approved by the utility that serves the island where the community solar project is planned.

Once subscriber organizations are approved, qualified electric customers—residential and commercial—will be able to join the subscriber organizations and participate in community solar on their island. Once the project is completed and producing power, subscribers will receive a credit on their electric bill, based on the output of the project and their level of participation.

The first phase aims to bring online a total of eight megawatts of solar, equivalent to a small grid-scale array, in the Hawaiian Electric, Maui Electric and Hawai‘i Electric Light service territories.

General information and answers to many common questions are available at the community solar pages on each company’s websites.

These sites also offer general information about the community solar program and will be updated regularly, including with subscriber organizations as they are approved. Customers can also call (808) 543-7474 from O‘ahu or (833) 411-3603 from Maui, Moloka‘i, Lana‘i or Hawai‘i Island.