REC solar hired Jon Miller six months ago to lead its new utility-scale solar division.

The company has been in the solar business for 14 years, but has always focused on residential and distributed solar generation. It has installed more than 100 megawatts of residential solar.

Its interest in utility-scale development is new, Miller said.

“The utility space is moving fast,” he said.

The company is doing business all over the country and has projects in Hawaii and New Jersey going up right now. The Hawaiian project, at 14 megawatts, is REC’s biggest yet.

“The grid over there is sensitive,” Miller said. “It couldn’t handle much more than 14 megawatts.”

Because the market is small and the power generated is a small amount, the grid is vulnerable to even the most minor changes in production. Solar and wind, with their intermittency during cloudy days for solar and windless nights for wind, can cause problems on a small system like that, Miller said.

But Hawaii needs the renewable power. The island state pays hefty fees for its oil-generated electricity.

Miller said REC Solar has 30 megawatts in the pipeline in Hawaii.

While the company is aggressively pursuing utility-scale business, it’s not pursuing aggressive projects.

“We’re going after projects between 5 and 25 megawatts,” Miller said, “anything under 30 megawatts.”

He said the idea is that it’s easier to get those smaller utility-scale projects off the ground. They can typically be built along distribution lines and fit more comfortably into communities.

“There are still challenges,” he said. “But in general, it’s far easier to get government approval for a 5-megawatt project than for a 50-megawatt project.”

The strategy is working as REC’s utility-scale business is growing quickly and dramatically.