A Clash Over Solar Plays Out in Hawaii
太陽能電力之爭 夏威夷浮上檯面
By Diane Cardwell

HONOLULU – Allan Akamine has wanted nothing more than to lower his $600 to $700 monthly electric bill with a solar system of his own. But for 18 months or so, the state’s biggest utility barred him and thousands of other from getting one, citing concerns that power generated by rooftop systems was overwhelming its ability to handle it.
艾倫．艾卡曼的所求不過是裝設自己的太陽能系統，讓每個月六、七百美元的電費減少些。但約莫18個月的時間裡，夏威夷州最大電力公司卻禁止他和其他數千人安裝，表示擔心屋頂太陽能發電系統的發電量會超出電力公司的處理能力。

Only under strict orders from state energy officials did the Hawaiian Electric Company recently rush to approve the lengthy backlog of solar applications.
直到州政府能源官員下達嚴格命令後，夏威夷電力公司最近才火速批准大排長龍的太陽能系統使用申請。

It is the latest chapter in a closely watched battle that has put this state at the forefront of a global upheaval in the power business. Rooftop systems now sit atop roughly 12 percent of Hawaii’s homes, by far the highest proportion in the United States.
這是一場鬥爭的最新進展。受到密切關注的這場鬥爭將夏威夷州推向全球能源事業劇變的最前線。約12%的夏威夷住戶裝有屋頂太陽能發電系統，比率遠超過美國其他地區。

Other states and countries, including California, Arizona, Japan and Germany, are struggling to adapt to the growing popularity of making electricity at home, which puts new pressures on old infrastructure like circuits and power lines and cuts into electric company revenue.
其他州和國家，例如加州、亞利桑納州、日本和德國，正努力適應自力發電愈來愈普遍的情況，這使得電路、輸電線等老舊的基礎設施承受新的壓力，電力公司營收減少。

As a result, many utilities are trying to stem the rise of solar by reducing incentives, adding steep fees or effectively pushing home solar companies out of the market. In response, solar companies are fighting back through regulators, lawmakers and the courts.
因此，很多電力公司透過減少獎勵措施、大幅增收手續費或實際上將提供家用太陽能系統的公司擠出市場，設法阻止太陽能系統的推廣。太陽能公司則透過行政、立法、司法途徑還擊。

The shift in the electric business is remaking the relationship between power companies and the public while raising questions about how to pay for maintaining and operating the nation’s grid.
此一轉變正在改變電力公司與大眾的關係，同時引發全國電網的維護和營運要怎麼埋單等問題。

In solar-rich areas of California and Arizona and Hawaii, solar-generated electricity flowing out of houses and into a power grid has caused voltage fluctuations that can overload circuits, burn lines and lead to brownouts or blackouts. “Hawaii’s case is not isolated,” said Massoud Amin, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Minnesota and chairman of the smart grid program at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, a technical association. “When we push year-on-year 30 to 40 percent growth in this market, with the number of installations doubling, quickly – every two years or so – there’s going to be problems.”
在加州、亞利桑納州及夏威夷州等陽光充足的地區，太陽能發的電從住宅進入電網時，造成的電壓波動可能會使電路超載，燒毀電線，導致限電或停電。「夏威夷的情況並非個案，」明尼蘇達大學電機及資訊工程教授馬蘇德．阿敏說：「當我們推動市場年增率為30%至40%，安裝數量快速增加，每兩年便多一倍時，就會出問題。」他也是電機電子工程師學會智慧電網計畫的負責人。

The economic threat has electric companies on edge. Over all, demand for electricity is softening while home solar is spreading across the United States. There are now about 600,000 installed systems, and the number is expected to reach 3.3 million by 2020, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.
此一經濟威脅讓電力公司緊張兮兮。總體而言，家用太陽能系統普及全美之際，電力需求沒那麼吃緊。太陽能產業協會統計，目前已有60萬組太陽能系統安裝完畢，2020年可能會達到330萬。

Hawaiian Electric wants to cut roughly in half the amount it pays customers for solar electricity they send to the grid. But after a study showed that with some upgrades the system could handle much more solar than the company had assumed, the state’s public utilities commission ordered the utility to begin installations.
夏威夷電力公司想要以半價收購客戶送回電網的太陽能電力。但在一項研究顯示，系統升級後可處理的太陽能電力遠超過電力公司的設想後，夏威夷州的公共事業委員會命令電力公司開始安裝太陽能系統。

Hawaiian Electric is upgrading its circuits and meters to better regulate the flow of electricity. Rooftop solar makes far more power than any other single source, said Colton Ching, vice president for energy delivery at Hawaiian Electric, but the utility cannot control or predict the output.
夏威夷電力公司正讓電路和電表升級，以便更能控制電流。公司輸電部門副總裁柯頓．秦表示，屋頂太陽能發電是最大的單一發電來源，但是電力公司無法控制或預測其發電量。

“At every different moment, we have to make sure that the amount of power we generate is equal to the amount of nearby being used, and if we don’t keep that balance things go unstable,” he said. But the rooftop systems are “essentially invisible to us, because they sit behind a customer’s meter and we don’t have a means to directly measure them.”
「我們隨時都得確認發電量等同於用電量，如果我們無法保持平衡，供電就會不穩，」他說。「但是屋頂系統『我們根本看不見』，因為連怎麼安裝都不知道，我們無法直接度量。」

For customers, such explanations offer little comfort as they continue to pay among the highest electric rates in the country.
對用電戶來說，這樣的解釋等於白說，他們仍然支付比全美絕大多數地區都高的電費。

“I went through all this trouble to get my electric bill down, and I am still waiting,” said Joyce Villegas, 88, who signed her contract for a system in August 2013 but was only recently approved.
「我費好大的勁兒要少付點電費，卻仍在苦等，」88歲的喬耶絲．維耶格斯在2013年8月就申裝太陽能發電系統，日前才獲准。

Mr. Akamine expressed resignation over the roughly $12,000 he could have saved over the last18 month, but wondered about the delay. “Why did it take forceful urging from the local public utility commission to open up more permits?” he asked.
假如不用等18個月，艾卡曼大概可省下1萬2千美元的電費；無可奈何之際，他揣測是被甚麼給耽擱了，質疑「為什麼非得公共事業委員會強力要求，才肯核發更多許可？」

Installers – who saw their fast-growing businesses slow to a trickle – are also frustrated with the pace. James Whitcomb, chief executive of Haleakala Solar, said the answer may lie in a more radical solution: Avoid the utility and its grid altogether.
安裝業者看到快速成長的業務減緩到稀稀落落，也對進度感到不滿。哈雷阿卡拉太陽能公司執行長詹姆斯·惠特康表示，更徹底的解方也許才是問題答案：避開這家電力公司及其電網。

Customers are increasingly asking about the batteries he often puts in along with the solar panels. The batteries allow customers to store the power they generate during the day for use at night. It is more expensive, but it breaks consumer reliance on the utility’s network of power lines.
他經常裝入太陽能面板的電池，顧客詢問度日增。電池讓太陽能系統能夠儲存白天發的電，供夜間使用。雖然比較貴，但打破了顧客對電力公司供電網的依賴。

“The lumbering big utilities that are so used to taking three months to study this and then six months to do that – what they don’t understand is that things are moving at the speed of business,” Mr. Whitcomb said. “Like with digital photography – this is inevitable.”
「行動遲緩的大型電力公司習慣先花三個月研究這個，再花六個月去做那個，他們不了解的是環境隨著產業發展的速度在變化。」惠特康說：「就像數位攝影一樣，這是不可避免的。」

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/19/business/energy-environment/solar-power-battle-puts-hawaii-at-forefront-of-worldwide-changes.html

2015-05-05聯合報/G9版/UNITED DAILY NEWS 張佑生譯 原文參見紐時週報七版上