Clean Energy for Hawaii

Innovation enables us to shape Hawaii’s preferred energy future, integrating new and evolving technologies with potential to increase our state’s energy self-sufficiency.

To fulfill the promise of these new technologies, we must work in partnership with the public and private sectors; with other energy providers; and with you, our customer.

This is a community challenge.

At Hawaiian Electric, we’re committed to meeting the energy needs of Hawaii’s people in a reliable, economical and environmentally sound way. Our goal is to add as much renewable energy to our systems as soon as possible, with the goal of reaching 100%. 

Commitment

Hawaiian Electric, Maui Electric and Hawaii Electric Light Company are committed to reducing Hawaii's dependence on fossil fuel – particularly imported oil.

Moving Hawaii off imported oil for electricity will have many benefits, including providing our customers more stable and predictable pricing.

The cost of oil has become increasingly volatile and unpredictable in recent years. Reducing our dependence on imported fossil fuel and using renewable energy sources is not just the right thing to do, it is an economic, security and environmental necessity.

Hawaii has created a legal mandate – known as a renewable portfolio standard – which requires that by 2030, 40 percent of the electricity sold by the Hawaiian Electric companies come from renewable sources. Hawaiian Electric sees that mandate as a floor, not a ceiling. Our commitment is to exceed the RPS and add as much renewably sourced electricity as soon as possible with the goal of reaching 100%.

Though complex in detail, in concept the goal can be expressed in two simple words: Less and Local.

Each of us in our homes, schools and workplaces needs to use LESS electricity when possible -- without sacrificing safety, comfort or convenience. Using conservation and energy efficiency, we all need to use energy wisely every day.

In addition, the Hawaiian Electric companies are in the center of the effort to increase the use of LOCAL clean and renewable energy.

In the past, it was efficient and economical for Hawaii to import crude oil, refine it into gasoline, jet and marine fuel and use the residue to generate electricity.

Today, concern about Hawaii’s energy security, our island economy and the world’s environment require that we act differently.  
  

How are we doing?

In 2010, the Hawaiian Electric companies achieved a consolidated Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) of 20.7 percent, an increase from the 19 percent level achieved in 2009. This means that 20.7 percent of Hawaiian Electric, Maui Electric and Hawaii Electric Light companies’ sales came from renewable energy (including solar water heating) and quantifiable energy efficiency efforts.

“Traditional” renewable energy generation (as compared to energy savings from solar water heating and energy efficiency technologies) made up almost half the total RPS percentage for 2010.

Three years into Hawaii's revived clean energy initiative, much of the regulatory foundation for change has been established and more "steel-in-the ground" projects are coming online. For example, First Wind Hawaii completed the Kahuku Wind Farm in March 2011 and is moving ahead on a second Oahu wind farm above Haleiwa.

As of October 2011, renewable energy projects with more than 300 megawatts of generating capacity are providing power to the Hawaiian Electric companies. In addition, contracts for projects to provide more than 500 megawatts have been negotiated are in negotiations or proposed. And hundreds of megawatts more are at a stage too early to make public.

This represents a significant amount for Hawaiian Electric, Maui Electric and Hawaii Electric Light Company, which currently have about 2,500 MW of generation, from utility generation and from independent power producers.

Below is a list of projects in service, approved and under development, awaiting approval or under public discussion as of October 2011. 

Read the two-year update on progress on the clean energy initiative.  
 

Background: Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative

In October 2008, a historic agreement was signed by the State of Hawaii and the Hawaiian Electric companies. It set an aggressive and far-reaching goal for a state now 90% dependent on imported fossil fuels for its energy needs.

The energy agreement, part of the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative, put Hawaii on a path toward 70% clean energy (a 30% reduction through energy efficiency and 40% of electricity sales from renewable sources) by 2030. In 2009, the Hawaii State Legislature enacted this goal into law. Act 155 increased Hawaii’s renewable portfolio standard to 40 percent and established an energy efficiency standard of 30 percent by 2030.

As a state, we have strong motivation to achieve these goals. Our dependence on imported fossil fuel impacts our security and economy. Most experts predict oil prices will rise as the world economy picks up and it becomes more and more difficult and costly to find oil and bring it to market.

Hawaii spends billion of dollars annually (roughly 10% of the total economic activity in the state) on energy, much of it sent out of state to buy oil. That oil arrives weekly in massive oil tankers over one of the world's longest sea routes. Many natural and human disasters could disrupt that supply, leaving Hawaii in an energy crisis within a month or less.

Added to these concerns: Growing understanding of global climate change. Hawaii’s total production of greenhouse gases is small, even on a per capita basis. But as an island state in a tropical hurricane path, we are very vulnerable to rising sea levels, more intense storms and even droughts that are part of global climate change.

It is now clear the energy system that powered Hawaii well for decades when oil was plentiful and cheap cannot be sustained.

The challenge of modernizing our energy system will require hard work, difficult decisions, cooperation and investment. We cannot afford inaction; the cost of doing nothing or too little outweighs the costs of what we can and must do. We believe a unified commitment to a clean energy future has put Hawaii on the right path.  
  

Global warming policy

In January 2007, the Hawaiian Electric companies’ Board of Directors established this policy on global warming:

"Hawaiian Electric Company shares the very serious concerns of many regarding the potential effects of global warming and human contributions to this phenomenon, including the burning of fossil fuels for electricity production, transportation, manufacturing, agricultural activities and deforestation.

To effectively address global warming, actions addressing all contributing sources must be taken with priority given to those which provide the greatest benefit for the costs involved. To be successful, the response to global warming requires commitment by private sector businesses, all levels of government, and every member of the public.

At Hawaiian Electric, we remain committed to taking direct action to mitigate the contributions to global warming from electricity production. Such action has and will continue to include promoting aggressive energy conservation and transitioning to clean, efficient and eco-effective energy production in all markets that we serve."

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