Homeowners Can Get Paid To Add Batteries To Their Solar Panels

A distributive power plant company is partnering with the Hawaiian Electric Company to provide the Home Battery Rewards program.

Those who sign up for Swell Energy’s five-year program will receive a monthly check from HECO for connecting their solar power system to an energy storage unit.

The batteries can be attached to an existing solar panel unit, or Swell Energy can install a new one.

The purpose of the program is to provide a more balanced grid system and to help Hawaiʻi reach its net-zero energy goals by 2035.

Swell Energy is providing HECO with three services:

1. When the grid is over-stressed, the batteries are dispatched to bring down the burden on the grid.
2. When there is excess energy on the grid that people aren’t using, the energy in the home batteries can be store. For example, much of the wind energy in Hawaiʻi gets turned off because there is less demand for electricity at night.
3. A couple of times a month, the batteries are dispatched to bring the grid stability in the form of frequency response.

For more information, visit Swell Energy's website [Link].