The state Public Utilities Commission said Monday it approved four of seven utility-scale solar projects on Oahu, placing conditions to make sure residents won’t have to pay if developers miss out on a federal tax credit.
“Those are the projects that clearly have merit, are reasonable and in the public interest — and we acted on them,” PUC Chairman Randy Iwase said.
The power purchase agreements approved for the four projects collectively could produce 137.2 megawatts of renewable energy, which at their peak could power more than 22,000 homes.
The four projects include EE Waianae Solar to be built near Waianae High School, Kawailoa Solar to be built in Haleiwa, Lanikuhana Solar to be built southwest of Mililani, and Waiawa PV.
SunEdison, owner of three of the four approved projects, said it is working to have the projects in place and operational before the December 2016 deadline to qualify for a federal 30 percent Investment Tax Credit.
“The timeline is tight, but we’re happy we can move forward to work on all of the details of breaking ground,” said Crystal Kua, spokeswoman for SunEdison.
The company is looking to break ground at the end of September, Kua said.
Iwase said the PUC added conditions to the approval so that customers would not have to face additional costs if the developer did not make the 2016 deadline.
“Should there be an add-on, it is not going to go to the ratepayers,” Iwase said. “The ratepayers will not be paying that. When we did these cases, we wanted to make sure we gave time for the decision issued in a way for those projects to proceed at a given timely notice.”
Hawaiian Electric Co. said the solar projects would not prevent adding rooftop solar. One of Iwase’s concerns when he postponed a decision on the projects in June was how areas of the grid would be affected if the projects were approved.
“These projects, equipped with technical controls to ensure reliable interconnection, still leave room for more rooftop solar on Oahu’s grid,” HECO spokesman Peter Rosegg said. “In a thorough process, we carefully screened more than two dozen competitive proposals to negotiate contracts only with the best available. All savings from these independent projects will be shared by every Oahu customer.”
The PUC still has three waiver projects that are pending.
“We have seven cases, and we are working on all of them as fast as we can,” Iwase said.
NextEra Energy Inc., the company looking to buy Hawaiian Electric Industries, is the listed developer of one of the projects. The solar farms awaiting a PUC decision are planned to be built in Waipahu, Waiawa and Waianae.
In June the PUC deferred a decision on the seven solar projects and denied approval of an eighth project that collectively could produce 240 megawatts.
HECO contracted with several solar companies to build the projects and asked the PUC last year to waive the usual requirement for competitive bidding to speed up the approval process and give customers the benefit of additional low-cost renewable energy sooner.
The PUC postponed the approval, saying HECO did not provide enough information to prove the projects were worth the waivers.
