Dive Brief:

Hawaii regulators have approved a time-of-use pilot proposed by Kauai Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC), designed to shift load to peak solar-producing hours during the day and reduce the need for oil generation at night.

Under the pilot, 300 homes with smart meters installed would get a 25% discount on the electricity used from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

KIUC said the program would target a range of customers and electric use profiles, including residents unable to install solar panels on their home.

Dive Insight:

KIUC, serving about 33,000 customers on the island of Kauai, wants to shift load to the daytime hours when solar production is at its peak in an effort to avoid curtailing production and shift load away from the dirtier oil-fired plants that run at night and during the evening peak.

The utility has more than 50 MW of solar generated during the day through a combination of utility-scale and rooftop systems.

"A key measure of the program’s success is the ability of customers to move a significant amount of their energy use from night to day to take advantage of the lower rates," KIUC said in a statement.

The one-year pilot will enroll 300 residents with smart meters, giving them a 25% break on power consumed during the daytime. KIUC said the reduction works out to about 8 cents off the September rate of 31 cents/kWh.

Participants in the pilot will receive an in-home display that monitors real-time usage, along with a $200 payment toward the installation of a water heater timer or any other device that facilitates load shifting.

The utility said it will collect and analyze usage data from each participant before, during and after the experiment to determine the extent to which their consumption profile changes. That data will be used to determine whether the program will be expanded to include all customers, potentially including commercial users.

KIUC said recruitment is expected to begin next month, and the program will kick off in the first quarter of 2016.