DER - Solar

Hawaii Electric selects grid services supplier

Hawaii Electric and the Open Access Technology International have partnered to expand grid integrated distributed energy resources for energy system reliability.

by Nicholas Nhede

Hawaii Electric has named OATI as the supplier of grid services which will work closely with the utility and the members of the Energy Alliance to connect DERs with the main grid.

Following the signing of a DER power purchase agreement, Hawaii Electric and OATI have submitted their plan for approval with the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission.

OATI will head a team of industry-leading companies under the Energy Alliance to control behind-the-meter DER assets such as solar PV, battery systems, and grid-enabled hot water tanks.

The DERs will be aggregated into Virtual Power Plants which sustain grid reliability of the Hawaii main system during times when it is stressed.

OATI will provide the software required to integrate the DERs with the grid, recruit and register consumer DERs for participation in the project as well as provide forecasting, dispatch and control services.

The grid services include the ancillary services of Fast Frequency Response, Capacity Increase, and Capacity Decrease.

The project is expected to help Hawaii Electric to expand its renewable energy sources. In 2018, about 27% of the energy used by customers of Hawaiian Electric came from a diverse mix of renewable sources

 Hawaii has set a target to produce 100% clean energy goal by 2045.

This article was first published by Smart Energy International and was reprinted with permission.

OATI participates in DISTRIBUTECH, where there will be an entire track focused on DERMS in 2020. Learn about the event, which takes place January 28-30 in San Antonio, Texas, here. 

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