Dora Nakafuji, Hawaiian Electric director of renewable energy planning, said, “We see DNV GL’s global expertise in certification and validation of complex distributed energy resources as providing vital insights to inform our continued growth of reliable, affordable renewable energy for our customers.”
DNV GL Solar Segment Director Ray Hudson said, “The Hawaiian Electric project aims to demonstrate management of and the optimal mix of solar plus energy storage with a target of maintaining a levelised cost of energy (LCOE) of less than 14 cents per kWh.”
The DOE website described the project’s approach: “Using the SEAMS approach, an interdisciplinary team will design and demonstrate new energy management system logics to ‘see and interface’ with distribution-system level, customer-hosted electricity resources.” Essentially, this would provide visibility and access for the utility, allowing them to monitor and use solar PV resources on consumers’ rooftops or wherever they are located.
This project will enable proliferation of a reliable base of SHINES (PV and storage) distributed technologies that offer more plug-and-play customer options for grid participation, and provide cost-effective “grid response” capabilities to system operators.