Hawaiian Electric seeks public comment on draft ‘Integrated Grid Plan: A pathway to a clean energy future’

Deadline to provide feedback on report is April 21

News Release from HECO, 4/3/2023

HONOLULU, April 3, 2023 – Hawaiian Electric has drafted an overarching plan for its island grids that aims to create a resilient, clean energy system powered by resources from Hawaii, for Hawaii.

The draft “Integrated Grid Plan: A pathway to a clean energy future” was filed with the Public Utilities Commission, outlining steps the company will take in the coming years to ensure its system will achieve net zero carbon emissions and use 100% local, renewable resources.

Community members will be able to review the full Integrated Grid Plan and provide comments over the next three weeks, until April 21. All received comments will be included and addressed in the final version of the Integrated Grid Plan, scheduled for filing in May 2023.

“Integrated grid planning is a collective process of balancing technical data with our customer and community values,” said Colton Ching, Hawaiian Electric senior vice president of planning and technology. “This thorough planning process provided Hawaiian Electric and our customers a clear plan forward to meeting our state’s clean energy goals while keeping reliability and affordability top of mind. Comments from the community will help us refine our actions and focus areas for the next several years.”

(TRANSLATION: Your rates will be going up to pay for the infrastructure we need to make irregular and erratic wind and solar electricity less damaging to our grid.)

The draft plan proposes defined actions and includes details on technical findings and community engagement throughout the planning process. Since 2018, Hawaiian Electric has collected data and gained insight through various working groups, inputs and assumptions modeling, regular stakeholder meetings, community events and presentations.

The draft Integrated Grid Plan identifies four high-level actions that must be taken within the next five years:

• Stabilize utility rates and advance energy equity
• Grow the marketplace for customer-scale and large-scale renewables
• Create a modern and resilient grid
• Secure reliability through diverse energy sources and technologies

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SA Editorial: HECO plan needs input from public

IM: HECO Proposed Future Dominated By Centralized Solar & Wind