Committee advances water‑heating bill amid industry debate on solar thermal vs heat pumps

The House Committee on Water and Land advanced HB 2608 HD1, a bill related to residential water‑heating systems, after detailed industry and agency testimony on technical standards, statutory life limits and variance processes.

Gail Suzuki Jones of the Hawaii State Energy Office said the office stood on written comments and proposed adding high‑efficiency heat‑pump water heaters to variance exemptions in some circumstances. Will Giese of Inner Island Solar (Solar Ray) said the statute currently imposes a 15‑year life limit on solar water heaters that skews life‑cycle cost analyses and recommended removing the statutory limit or extending it to match realistic system lifespans. He also urged updating older PUC standards (referenced as 2 69‑44) that were written in 2009 and set a high solar fraction requirement that makes solar thermal systems large and expensive for small homes.

Steve Parsons (Kauai Climate Action Coalition) testified that the solar‑thermal market in Hawaii behaves like a monopoly, described a personal case of an $11,000 solar installation where a heat pump would have cost about $1,500, and urged policy changes to allow heat pumps to compete at point of sale.

HSEO and industry participants discussed compromise options (e.g., extend 15 years toward the 18‑year range referenced in a technical manual) and the committee adopted the chair’s recommendation to pass the bill with agreed technical amendments (HD2) and to forward industry recommendations to the next committee for labor and technical review.