Sep 16, 2020   SOURCE: PR NewsWire

New renewable projects submitted to regulators will produce lower-cost electricity, advance clean energy

HONOLULU, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Hawaiian Electric, a subsidiary of Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. (NYSE: HE), has submitted eight contracts for new grid-scale renewable energy and storage projects on O'ahu and Maui to the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) for review and approval.

The six projects on O'ahu and two on Maui are part of the largest renewable energy procurement ever for Hawai'i. If approved and completed, the combined projects are expected to lower electric bills on average by about $1 a month on O'ahu and Maui.

The O'ahu projects are expected to provide generation and storage needed to retire the state's only coal plant, the 180-megawatt (MW) plant at Campbell Industrial Park owned by AES, by September 2022. On Maui, the successful completion of renewable energy projects will help enable the retirement of the 38 MW oil-fired Kahului plant in 2024.

These projects were part of the second phase of Hawaiian Electric's renewable procurement effort that began in February 2018. Three of the original projects withdrew and contracts for three other projects are still being negotiated with Hawaiian Electric.

"As planned, these projects will significantly advance our state's renewable energy transformation and benefit everyone by reducing our exposure to volatile oil prices," said Jim Alberts, Hawaiian Electric senior vice president of business development and strategic planning.

In addition to the projects planned by independent developers, Hawaiian Electric plans to build two standalone energy storage projects, one on Maui and one on Hawai'i Island. Those projects were submitted earlier to the PUC for review and approval.

The eight contracts submitted for regulatory review represent nearly 300 MW of new renewable generation and about 2,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of storage. If completed on schedule in 2022 and 2023, they are estimated to add approximately 9 percentage points to the renewable portfolio on the five islands served by Hawaiian Electric.

The company's renewable portfolio is expected to reach 30 percent by the end of this year with the anticipated return to service of Puna Geothermal Venture on Hawai'i Island.

The projects and their prices are listed on the following page:


       
              O'ahu

    ---


       
              Developer      
     
              Project            
     
              Location  
     
               Technology 
     
          MW/MWh  
     
              Price

    ---


       174 Power Global          
     Kupehau Solar                 
     Kunia                
     Solar + Storage             
        60/240 
     12.8¢ per kWh

    ---


       AES Distributed Energy    
     Waiawa Phase 2 
            Solar 
     Waiawa               
     Solar + Storage             
        30/240 
     12.4¢

    ---


       AES Distributed Energy    
     Mountain View Dairy Solar     
     Wai?anae             
     Solar + Storage               
        7/35 
     13.0¢

    ---


       Innergex Renewable Energy 
     Barbers Point 
            Solar  
     Kalaeloa             
     Solar + Storage              
        15/60 
     11.2¢

    ---


       Longroad Development      
     Mahi Solar                    
     Kunia                
     Solar + Storage            
        120/480 
     9.7¢

    ---


       Energy Storage Resource   
     Kapolei Energy Storage        
     Barbers Point Harbor 
     Storage                
     *              
     *

    ---


       
              Maui

    ---


       
              Developer      
     
              Project            
     
              Location  
     
               Technology 
     
          MW/MWh  
     
              Price

    ---


       Longroad Development      
     Pulehu Solar                  
     P?lehu               
     Solar + Storage             
        40/160 
     9.2¢

    ---


       Innergex Renewable Energy 
     Kahana Solar                  
     N?pili-Honok?wai     
     Solar + Storage              
        20/80 
     8.9¢

    ---



                 * Kapolei Energy Storage does
                  not produce energy so has no
                  per unit price. A fixed
                  monthly payment is made for
                  energy stored in a single
                  battery system intended to
                  provide a four-hour, 135 MW,
                  540 MWh load-shift of energy
                  to the evening hours when
                  demand increases but solar
                  generation diminishes and a
                  30-minute, 50 MW, 25 MWh fast
                  frequency response in case of
                  a system contingency to allow
                  operators time for other
                  resources to stabilize the
                  grid.

Hawaiian Electric has made community outreach a formal part of the procurement process and requires developers to engage with residents in the communities where their projects are planned. Community members will have the opportunity to provide comments and feedback as part of the regulatory review process.

At the end of 2019, Hawaiian Electric had 902 MW of solar capacity on its five island grids, including approximately 684 MW of solar capacity from customer-sited rooftop solar systems that now number over 85,000. These new projects, if approved and completed, will increase solar capacity by a third.

Contract documents filed by the company will be available on the PUC website at https://dms.puc.hawaii.gov/dms/.

     CONTACT: 
     Peter Rosegg, 808.371.7474


              
     
                Peter.Rosegg@hawaiianelectric.com

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-renewable-projects-submitted-to-regulators-will-produce-lower-cost-electricity-advance-clean-energy-301132654.html

SOURCE Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc.