The state Public Utilities Commission has approved another round of utility-scale renewable energy project additions to island power grids through competitive bids.
Under the approval
issued Friday, Hawaiian Electric is accepting proposals through late January from renewable energy development firms for projects on Oahu and Hawaii island.
The effort aims to add nearly 1,650 gigawatt-hours of renewable energy from variable or intermittent sources that can include
solar and wind farms, 465 megawatts of “grid forming resources” that can include variable power linked to
battery storage, and
111 megawatts of firm power production.
Of the 465 megawatts
of grid forming resources, 350 are for Oahu and 115 are for Hawaii island. Of the
111 megawatts of firm power, 81 are for Oahu and 30 are for Hawaii island.
Hawaiian Electric expects to select projects in September 2027. Winning projects, which are subject to contract negotiations and PUC approval, are intended to start producing electricity between 2031 and 2034.
This is the fourth round of renewable energy development solicitations being done by Hawaiian Electric under a PUC process to retire decades-old power plants fueled by oil and to meet a state goal to produce 100% of electricity renewable resources by 2045.
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Last year, Hawaiian Electric — which serves Oahu, Maui, Molokai, Lanai and Hawaii island — was at 36.8%, representing 32.3% on Oahu, 41.6% for Maui County and 57.3% on Hawaii island.
Some of the additional renewable energy projects are being sought to compensate for projects that were approved in a prior round but are no longer moving forward. All the renewable energy projects are intended to meet growing energy needs, modernize power generation and drive down costs by
reducing the use of oil.
“Collectively these projects comprise one of Hawaii’s largest-ever energy procurements and will make significant progress toward stabilizing customer bills and achieving the state’s
decarbonization goals,” Shelee Kimura, Hawaiian Electric president, said in a statement.
Kimura also said the company expects significant
interest in bidding from renewable energy developers, and that the competitive process has proven to be the most effective means to “fairly evaluate projects and ensure our customers’ interests are protected.”
An affiliate of Japan’s largest energy company wants to bypass such competitive bidding by seeking PUC permission to develop a 500-megawatt power plant on Oahu run on liquefied natural gas delivered by ship to an import terminal that would also be built by the company.
JERA Americas, the subsidiary of JERA Co., claims its envisioned $2 billion project endorsed by the administration of Gov. Josh Green could be developed by 2030 and cut the cost of electricity on Oahu by about 20% to save an average household about $42 a month, with a later conversion to run on a renewable fuel by 2045.
The PUC has not received an application yet from JERA, but the agency on Wednesday declined a request Hawaiian Electric made in July to allow the addition of 500 megawatts of fuel-flexible firm generation on Oahu
under a competitive
procurement process.
One contention from JERA is that the PUC’s framework for authorizing projects via competitive bidding can take years.
The bidding approved on Friday stems from an initiative that the PUC began in August 2024 after groundwork by Hawaiian Electric in 2023.
Earlier phases of renewable energy procurement under the PUC’s competitive bidding framework for Hawaiian Electric were initiated in 2018, 2019 and 2023.
The first two phases led to nearly 450 megawatts of new power production and roughly 1.7 gigawatt hours per year of energy storage for Oahu and Maui.
The third stage of bids sought at least 965 gigawatt hours of variable energy and 300 to 700 megawatts of firm energy to come online between 2027 and 2033 on Oahu, and at least 425 gigawatt hours of variable energy and at least 40 megawatts of firm energy on Maui by 2027.
Hawaiian Electric said its third stage request was the largest energy procurement in company history.
Projects that resulted from the third stage but are still tentative include a 208-megawatt biofuel power plant planned by Kalaeloa Partners on Oahu projected to come online in 2033, and a 99-megawatt biofuel power plant planned by Ameresco Inc. on Oahu projected to come online in 2029.
Third-stage projects
approved by the PUC include a 120-megawatt solar farm with battery storage planned by Longroad Energy Holdings on Oahu projected to come online in 2028, and a 253-megawatt biofuel power plant on Oahu planned by Hawaiian Electric projected to come online in three phases from 2029 to 2033.