Hawaiian Electric is seeking public comment on a plan for its island grids in preparation for a clean energy future.
The 264-page draft of “Integrated Grid Plan: A pathway to a clean energy future” has been filed with the state Public Utilities Commission, which regulates essential utility services. It outlines steps the company will take in coming years to use 100% local, renewable resources and achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2045.
Public comments, which can be submitted online at hawaiipowered.com/igpreport, will be accepted until April 21. All comments will be included and addressed in the company’s final “Integrated Grid Plan” to be filed in May.
“Integrated grid planning is a collective process of balancing technical data with our customer and community values,” said Colton Ching, Hawaiian Electric senior vice president of planning and technology, in a news release. “This thorough planning process provided Hawaiian Electric and our customers a clear plan forward to meeting our state’s clean energy goals while keeping reliability and affordability top of mind. Comments from the community will help us refine our actions and focus areas for the next several years.”
The draft plan includes technical findings, forecast models and results from community engagement efforts. Hawaiian Electric says since planning efforts began in 2018, it has been collecting data and gathering insight and input from working groups, stakeholder meetings, community events and presentations.
In the plan’s executive summary, the company acknowledges that its customers’ top concerns are affordability and reliability.
Hawaiian Electric serves 95% of the state’s population of 1.4 million residents with separate grids on Hawaii island, Oahu, Maui, Lanai and Molokai.
The company says about 32% of its total energy generation currently comes from renewables — a combination of private solar rooftops, solar and wind farms, biomass, geothermal and other sources. While the amount of renewables generated has tripled since 2010, the report acknowledges that it still has “a long way to go.”
The plan outlines four high-level actions that must be taken within the next five years to meet target goals: stabilize utility rates and advance energy equity, grow the marketplace for customer-scale and large-scale renewables, create a modern and resilient grid, and secure reliability through diverse energy sources and technologies.
Utility rates will rise in the transition to clean energy, the plan said, but the addition of customer- and large-scale renewable energy is expected to stabilize rates and insulate customers from volatile fossil fuel markets in the long run.
Hawaiian Electric must also act swiftly to fortify the grid in the face of climate change.
“Extreme weather hazards are projected to increase in frequency, intensity, and duration because of climate change,” according to the draft. “Failure to prepare for such events could result in power interruptions, damage to electricity infrastructure, significant economic disruption, and disruption to critical government and private-sector services.”
Reliability, the company said, is a matter of safety and security as the state’s hospitals, communication systems and emergency services depend on electricity.
In 2021, Hawaiian Electric’s Climate Change Action Plan set ambitious goals of reducing carbon emissions in 2030 by as much as 70% below 2005 levels and reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2045.
At the same time, the company’s aging fossil fuel generators on Hawaii island, Maui and Oahu, at 55 to 75 years old, were not designed for today’s dynamic grid. There will be an urgent need for more generation capacity, particularly since demand is expected to dramatically increase.
The report says that “no single energy source or technology can achieve our clean energy goals” and that rooftop solar alone is not enough to meet future demands. The company must also be open to new technologies.
All of this is to be achieved while also addressing “energy equity,” or ensuring that benefits of the transition to clean energy be equitably shared, with special consideration to low- and moderate-income households.
