Hawaiian Electric Co. is seeking permission from regulators to buy power from a planned 20-megawatt photovoltaic facility in Central Oahu that would be the utility’s single largest source of solar energy to date.
The Mililani Solar I project planned for a 134-acre parcel west of Patsy T. Mink Central Oahu Regional Park is one of roughly a dozen utility-scale photovoltaic facilities scheduled to be built over the next two years that are expected to provide enough energy to serve the needs of 60,000 homes on Oahu.
The project’s developer, a subsidiary of First Wind LLC, is proposing to sell the power produced by Mililani Solar I to Hawaiian Electric for 15.6 cents a kilowatt-hour over a 20-year period. That’s about 20 percent below what HECO pays to generate power from all of its other energy sources. About 75 percent of Hawaiian Electric’s power generation comes from burning oil.
First Wind bought the rights to the project last year from Castle & Cooke, which had formed a company called Lanikuhana Solar LLC in 2011 to develop the facility. First Wind expects to begin construction of Mililani Solar I in 2015 and begin generating power in 2016.
The project will tie into HECO’s main 138-kilovolt transmission line that connects the Kahe Power Plant with Wahiawa, according to the power purchase agreement.
It isn’t likely that the Mililani project will affect the ability of homeowners to connect rooftop PV systems to HECO’s distribution circuits at the neighborhood level because large-scale solar facilities are connected directly to HECO’s high-voltage lines, a utility spokesman said.
All new utility-scale generation must undergo an interconnection requirements study to evaluate its impact on the HECO grid.
Hawaiian Electric’s power purchase agreement with First Wind is the first one it has submitted to the Public Utilities Commission for its list of proposed utility-scale PV projects.
The proposed PPA and other filings in the case are public documents that can be viewed on the PUC’s website. However, the commission last week agreed to a request by HECO for a "protective order" that will allow HECO and First Wind to block the public from seeing certain information they deem confidential relating to things considered to contain trade secrets or that could jeopardize HECO’s emergency and disaster preparedness plans.
First Wind is the largest provider of wind power in the state with a total of 150 megawatts of generating capacity at two projects on Oahu and two on Maui. It also is planning to become the state’s largest source of solar power through its subsidiary, First Wind Solar.
Including Mililani Solar I, First Wind Solar has four utility-scale PV projects proposed with a total generating capacity of 132 megawatts.
HECO in February 2013 stepped up its effort to bring more utility-scale solar online through a program that would waive normal competitive bidding requirements if the developers pledged to deliver the power for less than 17 cents a kilowatt-hour.
HECO selected nine projects with a total generating capacity of 240 megawatts. The projects are subject to approval by the PUC. HECO’s goal is to have the projects operational by the end of 2016 when federal tax credits for PV are due to expire.
Mililani Solar I is not one of the waiver projects because its development was started before HECO announced the waiver initiative.
HECO also is proposing to build and own its own utility-scale PV project, a 15-megawatt facility that would be located next to the Kahe Power Plant.
