Anyone seeking guidance in reaching a destination would be wise to use a road map. Hawaiian Electric has submitted such a plan that charts its journey toward clean-energy goals in a comprehensive way.

But because this trip for Hawaii crosses an energy landscape that’s not fully formed, it’s plain that the way forward will be tough, even with the newly finalized road map, called the Integrated Grid Plan.

At every turn, there will be options to weigh, and a couple of those possibilities got high-profile exposure last week. A blessing was held Tuesday in Kapolei, the site of the now-shuttered AES Corp. coal-fired power plant, an 8.5-acre property the company aims to reuse as a solar farm after the plant is dismantled in 2025.

And Hawaiian Electric itself has disclosed its intent to redevelop the old Waiau power plant, converting its oil-fired generation units to run on other, renewable fuels.

The bottom line of all this will be achieving what must be the utility’s priority: keeping the electric grid functioning reliably and as affordably as possible.

The state’s policy toward this end took shape in 2008 when the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative was launched by Gov. Linda Lingle. She saw the energy security of the state threatened by its dependence on imported fossil fuels, with their volatile pricing adding a strain on the local economy. The aim was to transition to 100% renewable energy by 2045.

As years passed, the imperative to cut carbon emissions became more urgent and the campaign to do so has been bolstered by additional legislation. Most recently, in 2022, Act 238 set 2030 as the deadline for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% of 2005 levels.

The impetus, in large part, was the palpable effects of climate change, with more intense and damaging storms and rising seas accelerating erosion already evident statewide.

The hurdles in the way are numerous. Technology can surmount various problems — solar energy costs have declined steeply in recent years — but in many cases, solutions are unknown, or at least still under development.

The Integrated Grid Plan (IGP) was submitted to and already is under review by the state Public Utilities Commission. It is a 299-page document; with the appendices and related materials attached, it’s more than three times that length.

The reason for all the heft is a good one. HECO has stepped up its community outreach in drawing up the final plan: 100 pages comprise the more than 300 comments about the initial draft.

That outreach is crucial if this transition to clean energy is to stay on track. Hawaii residents must see that steps are measured carefully to control costs that could add to Hawaii’s already expensive electric bills. Otherwise, it will be hard to win the community support for projects to make significant advances toward energy self-sufficiency.

The plan includes timelines for when fossil-fuel plants could be retired. Pie charts show at what stage a percentage of renewable “firm power” fuels could replace that generation. Examples include biofuels, biomass and hydrogen — the latter being an exciting area of development for which the state is seeking federal funds now.

What’s happening first, said Colton Ching, HECO senior vice president of planning and technology, is PUC approval of the overarching IGP vision, with further approvals at incremental stages.

In the meantime, the utility plans to move ahead issuing its requests for proposals (RFPs) on the next set of projects adding to its renewable energy portfolio.

Exactly what the company is looking for won’t become clear for some months, because HECO is currently modifying the RFP process to be more suitable to projects such as offshore wind projects that would need a much-longer-than-standard lead time.

“We require site control up front in our general RFP,” said Rebecca Dayhuff Matsushima, vice president of resource procurement. “But a project that may have to go out and do research to see if the resource is available — like geothermal — they may not know where a resource is yet … so having site control right up front may not make sense for them (project bidders).”

Once the modifications are done, HECO expects to submit drafts of its general and modified RFPs to the PUC in October, Ching said, with the aim of issuing the call for proposals early next year.

“There’s a lot of stuff that we need to do now because of these climate goals,” he added. “But also our goals to manage the costs of electricity, and keep electricity reliable, are things that we need to work on right now.”

If the pace seems to be accelerating, it is.

“The faster we can add low-cost renewables on our system at scale, the better we are going to be able to manage customer bills,” Ching said.

All this risk and uncertainty is unsettling, even scary, in what looms as a brave new world. Clean-energy ventures still offer the most promising future, as long as Hawaii and its largest power utility approach it with clear eyes.

And yes, a little bravery wouldn’t hurt.