PUC Invites Public Comment on HECs’ Integrated Grid Planning Report

The Hawai‘i Public Utilities Commission is seeking public comments on the Hawaiian Electric Companies’ Integrated Grid Planning Report.

Integrated Grid Planning Report. Click to view the report.

As requested by the Hawai‘i Public Utilities Commission (“Commission”), the Hawaiian Electric Companies (“Companies”) have filed their Integrated Grid Planning Report (“IGP Report”) with the Commission. The IGP Report describes the Companies’ new approach to power system planning.

The IGP Report proposes to merge three historically separate planning processes—generation, transmission, and distribution—while simultaneously integrating competitive procurement into this comprehensive grid planning approach. The goal is to define grid needs, identify available solutions, and develop an optimized, cost-effective portfolio of solutions to meet grid needs. Integrating these planning processes is intended to allow a variety of distributed and grid-scale resources to provide power generation and other grid services, with the potential to deliver significant customer savings.

The Companies propose an extensive stakeholder engagement framework, including an approximately 20-member stakeholder council to provide feedback throughout the process, a technical advisory panel to vet advanced tools and methods, and ad-hoc working groups composed of subject matter experts to assist in key aspects of the process, including developing forecast assumptions, system and customer data access, and market-based procurement processes. The Companies propose to conduct a planning cycle every two years, beginning in 2019, resulting in the first integrated plan by the end of 2020.

The Commission has opened Docket No. 2018-0165 to investigate the IGP Report, and to ensure that the integrated grid planning process is conducted in a timely, transparent, and collaborative manner, by providing guidance and directives where necessary and appropriate.

A copy of the Companies’ IGP Report is available to view online.

The Companies’ IGP Report will also be filed in Docket No. 2018-0165 and will be available to view on the Commission’s Document Management System online.

Written comments on the IGP Report may be sent to the Commission by electronic mail to [email protected] or mailed to the Commission at: Public Utilities Commission 465 South King St., Room 103 Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96813

All written comments should reference Docket No. 2018-0165, and include the commenter’s name and the entity or organization the commenter represents. The Commission will review and consider any written comments that are received by the close of business on September 14, 2018.