Recognizing that reality, state authorities have recently returned to encouraging the use of small-scale energy systems. For example, to manage the supply and demand of electricity, Hawaii will provide up to $ 4,250 to homeowners on Oahu, where about 70% of the state’s population and Honolulu live, installing household batteries in solar systems, and so on. The cost of doing. Power companies can use these batteries to power from 6 pm to 8:30 pm, when energy demand normally peaks.
Brian White, a senior analyst at Wood Mackenzie, a research and consulting firm, said:
“Oil is a finite resource.”
Unlike most countries, Hawaii burns large amounts of oil to generate electricity. This is a common approach on the island as fuel is easier and cheaper to transport than natural gas.
A lecturer at the University of California, Santa Cruz, specializing in energy politics, he lived in Hawaii for much of his life.
Oil-fueled power plants supplied nearly two-thirds of Hawaii’s electricity last year, down from almost three-quarters ten years ago, according to the federal Energy Information Agency. By comparison, rooftop solar supplied about 14% from 6% in 2014, the earliest year the agency has that data.
The state imported about 80 percent of oil from Russia, Libya and Argentina, which offer grades that Hawaii refineries can process. The remaining 20 percent came from Alaska.
