An announcement from Hawaiian Electric Company in Honolulu says that it will work with the Sacramento Municipal Utility District in California to make photovoltaic panels more productive and efficient while keeping them reliable enough to serve utility grids.
The two utilities will be working with a research grant from the California Solar Initiative Research, Development, Deployment and Demonstration program that could be worth as much as $2.9 million.
"The California Solar Initiative is one of the greatest focused efforts to promote solar photovoltaics ever seen and is designed to help build a sustainable solar industry. Integrating substantial amounts of PV into the grid is part of that vision," said CPUC President Michael R. Peevey. "The research projects approved today will remove barriers and provide key insights into how we can efficiently use the energy from PV being produced on a million solar roofs."
The announcement noted that both utilities have seen substantial growth in the number of photovoltaic systems being used in their service areas.
