Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism

Hawaii State Energy Office
For Immediate Release: May 15, 2020

HONOLULU—The Hawaii State Energy Office (HSEO) launched a web page today to provide information, as it becomes publicly available, on the 13 solar-plus-storage and three standalone storage projects announced by the Hawaiian Electric Companies as part of the largest renewable energy procurement ever undertaken in Hawaii.

The development of the web page is part of the HSEO’s ongoing effort to keep Hawaii’s communities better informed about renewable energy projects from the early stages of their development. The 16 projects planned for Oahu, Maui and Hawaii Island would have a combined 460 megawatts of generating capacity and nearly 3 gigawatt-hours of energy storage. The projects, announced by Hawaiian Electric May 11 following the conclusion of a competitive bidding process, would increase the utility’s total solar generating capacity by more than 50 percent when completed.

While Hawaiian Electric announced the number of projects and the amount of generating capacity planned for each island, it has yet to disclose other details for most of the projects such as the names of developers or specific sites. Those details, and other information about the projects, will be added to the HSEO web page as they are publicly announced.

In creating the web page, HSEO is fulfilling its statutory duty under HRS 196-71(b)(3), which states that the Energy Office shall: “Provide renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy resiliency, and clean transportation project deployment facilitation to assist private sector project completion when aligned with state energy goals.”

The 16 projects are the result of the second phase of the renewable energy procurement conducted by Hawaiian Electric under the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission (PUC) Docket No. 2017-0352. After Hawaiian Electric completes negotiations on power purchase agreements with the individual project developers, Hawaiian Electric will file the individual contracts with the PUC for approval. Negotiation on the Phase 1 contracts in 2018 took several months.

The web page features a table intended to provide a convenient, one-stop-shop for basic project information as it becomes publicly available. Published sources will be cited and links provided whenever possible.

The projects listed in the table also will eventually be added to the Hawaii State Energy Office’s Renewable Energy Projects Directory, a searchable database of all large-scale renewable energy projects in all phases of development. Information published by HSEO for all projects comes from public sources of information only.

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About the Hawaii State Energy Office
The Hawaii State Energy Office (HSEO) is an attached agency of the state’s Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. The HSEO’s mission is to promote energy efficiency, renewable energy, and clean transportation to help achieve a resilient, clean energy, decarbonized economy. Toward this end, the HSEO is developing policies and programs to achieve our energy and climate change goals while identifying strategies that create jobs, lower costs, and improve quality of life in Hawaii. For more information, visit energy.hawaii.gov

MEDIA CONTACT:
Alan Yonan Jr.
Communications Officer
Hawaii State Energy Office
(808) 291-3543