(Photo Credit: Hawaiian Electric on Twitter)Seven grid-scale solar-plus-storage projects being proposed for Hawaii represent the largest and lowest cost such a portfolio ever assembled in the state, says Hawaiian Electric Companies. Contracts that the electric utility just sent to the PUC for review include costs per KWh as low as 8 cents.
The Hawaiian Electric Companies projects developed by AES, Innergex, Clearway, and 174 Power Global call for three on Oahu, two on Maui, and two on Hawaii Island. The projects would add 262 MW of solar energy with 1,048 MWh of storage. This storage can provide four hours of electricity to help lower fossil fuel use during peak demand or when the sun isn’t out, according to the utility.
Six of the seven projects carry the lowest prices for renewable electricity in Hawaii to date — and the utility says they are significantly lower than the cost of fossil fuel generation, which is currently around 15 cents per kWh.
The prices would be charged to customers without any markup or profit to the utility, the Hawaiian Electric Companies say. The 30-MW Waikoloa Solar project on Hawaii and the 60-MW Kuihelani Solar project on Maui would cost 8 cents per kWh. The highest price would be 12 cents per kWh for the 15-MW Paeahu Solar project on Maui:
Credit: Hawaiian Electric CompaniesSpeaking to Greentech Media’s Emma Foehringer Merchant, senior energy storage analyst at Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables Dan Finn-Foley called 8 cents per KWh “jaw-dropping.” Will Giese, executive director at Hawaii’s Solar Energy Association, told the outlet that the pricing is “mind-blowing.”
“Both the pricing and the size of the contracts are signed,” Merchant wrote.
The Hawaiian Electric Companies — Hawaiian Electric, Maui Electric, and Hawaii Electric Light — provide electricity for 462,225 customers. In 2017, the renewable energy percentage was 26.8%, the utility says.
A decade ago, the state created the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative, a partnership between the state and the DOE that aims for energy independence from heavy reliance on imported oil. Among the ambitious goals set by the initiative is reaching a 100% renewable energy portfolio standard by 2045.
Since the initiative began, the Hawaiian Electric Companies report having imported about 48 million fewer gallons of oil annually to generate electricity. “These seven projects, if approved by regulators, have the potential to nearly double that reduction to 100 million gallons when compared to 2008,” the utility says.
