Undeterred, Hawaii chooses renewables

President Donald Trump’s decision to walk away from America’s commitments to slow climate change is both frustrating and frightening, especially for those of us who live on islands and already see the impacts of rising ocean levels and more frequent storms.

Our congressional delegation has worked hard to make climate change a priority, but it’s clear that, at least for now, we can’t count on the executive branch in Washington to take seriously this threat.

The Hawaiian Electric Companies and Kauai Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) are proud to join the state of Hawaii and thousands of businesses, governments and institutions signaling continued pursuit of aggressive greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.

Hawaii was the first state to set a goal of reaching 100 percent renewable energy — and KIUC, Hawaiian Electric, Maui Electric and Hawaii Electric Light are already surpassing the interim milestones on the way to that goal.

At the end of 2016, 26 percent of the electricity used by customers of the Hawaiian Electric Companies came from renewable resources, up from 23 percent the previous year. Hawaii Electric Light is at 54 percent renewable. And at KIUC, the renewable portfolio has grown from 9 percent in 2008 to more than 40 percent today.

Greenhouse gas emissions from KIUC’s power plants are already below their 1990 levels. Emissions from the Hawaiian Electric Companies’ power plants have fallen nearly 20 percent over the past seven years, the result of replacing fossil fuels with renewables, as well as customer conservation and energy efficiency.

Hawaiian Electric’s plans call for eliminating coal for power generation on Oahu by the end of 2022, to be replaced in large part by clean, grid-scale solar and wind.

On Oahu, Hawaiian Electric is seeking regulatory approval for three new grid-scale solar arrays to be built and operated by NRG Energy. The previous developer’s bankruptcy enabled us to negotiate a lower price for customers for the 110 megawatts of electricity the projects will produce.

And, if approved by regulators, Hawaiian Electric’s proposed 20-megawatt solar project, a partnership with the U.S. Navy at Pearl Harbor, will produce some of the lowest priced renewable energy in the state.

On Kauai, Tesla is now operating the largest grid-scale solar-plus-storage facility in the world. A second facility, owned by AES, is to be operational by the end of 2018.

These two projects will supply 33 megawatts of stored solar energy to the grid during peak usage hours in the evening, at a price well below the current cost of oil.

And on the six islands our companies serve, 83,000 customers have installed or have been approved for rooftop solar.

By the end of 2020, we expect that our companies will be nearly halfway to the 100 percent renewable target.

Our companies are also leading the effort to get more emission-free electric vehicles on the road. We’re partners in Drive Electric Hawaii, a group working to encourage ownership of plug-in vehicles and make it easier to charge them during the day when solar is abundant.

The heightened attention on climate change action is a reminder that to be successful, this must be a shared effort. That’s why we’re glad to see such a diverse coalition of groups, governments, industries and individuals joining to act together.

In partnership with our customers, communities and many stakeholders, the Hawaiian Electric Companies and KIUC are making significant progress on replacing fossil fuels with clean energy. While it would be great to count on the resources of the federal government and the influence of our national leaders, we have many allies just as committed as we are to taking action to slow the warming of our planet.

Alan Oshima is president/CEO of Hawaiian Electric Co.; David Bissell is president/CEO of Kauai Island Utility Cooperative.