Hawaiian Electric Co., the largest power provider in the state, unveiled Monday a five-year plan that includes shutting down the Honolulu power plant near Aloha Tower, incorporating more renewable energy on its grids and converting customers to smart meters.
The 2,200-page "integrated resource plan," which now goes to the state Public Utilities Commission for consideration, marks the culmination of more than a year of work by HECO on how to achieve a legal requirement to generate 40 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030.
One of the most significant pieces of the plan is to deactivate older, less efficient power plants that provide a total of 226 megawatts of generating capacity, or about 14 percent of HECO-owned generation. The units include portions of Maui’s Kahului plant, Oahu’s Waiau plant and the Big Island’s Shipman plant.
The power plant near Aloha Tower, which dates to 1894 and received its existing generation units in the 1950s, will stop producing power next year, under HECO’s plan, but could be restarted in an emergency.
The plan also calls for moving all Hawaiian Electric customers on Oahu, Maui and Hawaii island to smart meters by 2018, with an opt-out provision for those who don’t want them. Smart meters alert the power company when there is an outage and allow customers to control household appliances remotely.
HECO will also convert or replace its remaining generating units to use cost-effective, cleaner fuels, including renewable biomass or biofuel and liquefied natural gas.
"This planning includes the most meaningful promises we can make for our customers," said Scott Seu, HECO vice president for energy resources and operations. "None of us is satisfied with the status quo. These commitments to action will move us to a clearer, more secure and affordable energy future," Seu said.
One of the recent initiatives HECO highlighted in its plan is the fast-tracking of five solar and wind energy projects on Oahu that would add 64 megawatts of generating capacity to the island grid.
The proposal, which also must be approved by the PUC, would speed construction of the utility-scale projects by granting developers a waiver from the competitive bidding process. The combined projects would provide electricity to HECO at 15.9 cents a kilowatt-hour, about one-third less than prices paid to developers of existing renewable energy projects.
The release of HECO’s five-year plan comes amid criticism of the utility for high electrical rates, which are roughly triple the national average. The PUC issued three orders last month that dealt with concerns from customers about high rates and poor service.
While HECO said its new plan will address some of those concerns, critics were skeptical.
A major concern of the Hawaii Solar Energy Association is that the plan does not put enough emphasis on how the utility should deal with greater penetration of small solar photovoltaic systems and other home-based power generation on its grids, said Lesley Cole-Brooks, HSEA executive director.
"PV saturation is a growing issue on all the islands," Cole-Brooks said. "But distributed generation (home-based power) wasn’t counted as a resource in the plan. It was dealt with as something that had to be contended with, not as something that should be included in an active way," she said.
Life of the Land, a nonprofit environmental group, filed a motion Monday with the PUC to intervene in the review of the HECO plan.
"The report doesn’t address a variety of issues, including HECO’s plan to deal with its fixed costs as more and more of its customers move to solar," said Henry Curtis, Life of the Land’s vice president for consumer issues.
"HECO didn’t do an adequate job of addressing community and cultural concerns. They just plowed ahead, paying only lip service to (community groups)," Curtis said.
However, HECO said the utility will continue to accommodate more PV on its grids.
"Plans for significant change include increasing the capability of utility grids to accept additional customer-sited renewable generation, especially roof-top photovoltaic systems, while protecting safety, reliability and fairness for all customers," HECO said in a news release.
