Hawaiian Electric seeks to expand renewables, energy storage on 3 islands, including Big Island

Hawaiian Electric seeks plans for competitively priced renewable energy and storage for the Big Island, Maui and Oʻahu to meet growing energy needs and modernize its generation fleet to drive down costs by reducing use of oil for power generation.

The utility submitted its Integrated Grid Planning Request for Proposals to Hawaiʻi Public Utility Commission.

These projects comprise one of Hawaiian Electric’s largest-ever energy solicitations. They will make significant progress toward the state’s goal of 100% renewable energy power generation by 2045.

“Hawai‘i needs to move faster, and we think our expedited procurement plan is the best way to drive competition, evaluate all options and more rapidly build a portfolio that meets the requirements of efficiency, reliability and lower carbon emissions and does it at the least cost,” said Hawaiian Electric Chief Executive Officer Scott Seu in a utility release. “This is one of the actions we’re taking that will benefit our customers and our state sooner, not on some faraway horizon.”

Hawaiian Electric proposes four immediate action steps:

• Retiring aging power plants sooner by accelerating addition of modern firm generation that can efficiently produce electricity 24/7 when variable resources — such as wind and solar — aren’t available.
• Launching one of the largest generation resource procurements in state history in a competitive bidding process to seek nearly 1,650 gigawatt-hours of variable renewable energy, 465 megawatts of grid forming resources and 111 megawatts of firm generating capacity, resources that can be available 24/7. Projects would be in service between 2031 and 2034.
• Seeking separate, expedited regulatory approval to expand the procurement for fuel-flexible firm generation resources on O‘ahu by up to an additional 500 megawatts.
• Launching a request for proposals for all fuels by the end of 2026, including liquid and gaseous, to provide a competitive evaluation of such measures as price, sourcing and environmental impact.

Hawaiian Electric also remains open to a range of solutions to meet Hawaiʻi’s energy needs, including liquefied natural gas for power generation.

“We believe natural gas could be a beneficial option for Hawaiʻi if it can deliver value to our customers,” Seu said. “At the same time, any such pathway must be evaluated transparently, rigorously and independently through the [Hawaiʻi Public Utilities Commission] process.”

He added having more options is always good and Hawaiian Electric welcomes proposals by all developers to help find the optimal resource mix for Hawaiʻi.

“We believe in an open competitive process as opposed to a sole-source, multi-billion-dollar contract without seeing what else is out there to ensure we’re getting the best outcome for Hawaiʻi today and for decades to come,” Seu said.

Interested developers can find more information about the competitive bidding process on the Hawaiian Electric website. Information about the request for proposals regulatory proceeding can be found on the Public Utilities Commission website under docket number 2024-0258.