Hawaiian Electric Companies observe Earth Day with release of 2017-18 Sustainability Report

Emissions cut 20 percent in 7 years; customers using less electricity

News Release from HECO

HONOLULU, April 19, 2018 - To acknowledge Earth Day 2018, Hawaiian Electric, Maui Electric and Hawaii Electric Light today released their 11th annual Sustainability Report for 2017-2018, describing the companies' efforts to address climate change and contribute to community sustainability. The 24-page report is available at:

www.hawaiianelectric.com/sustainability
www.mauielectric.com/sustainability
www.hawaiielectriclight.com/sustainability

Among accomplishments highlighted in the report:

• We reached a 27 percent renewable portfolio standard across our five-island service territory, up from 26 percent the year before and on track for the 2020 target of 30 percent.
• On some days, a large portion of the electricity our customers use comes from private and grid-scale renewables. Last year, Hawaii Electric Light hit 83 percent on Dec. 12; Maui Electric hit 77 percent on June 4; and Hawaiian Electric hit 53 percent on Aug. 17.

• We used 8.55 million barrels of oil last year compared to 10.7 million seven years ago.  (Why pick 2011 for comparison? Maybe because …Clean Energy Fail: While Most States Clean Up, Hawaii CO2 Emissions Rise Since '08) This was accomplished by increasing integration of renewables and customers using less electricity: 484 kilowatt-hours per month on statewide average, down from nearly 550 kWh in 2012. The U.S. average is 897 kWh per month today.

• Over seven years, we cut our power plant greenhouse gas emissions nearly 20 percent by replacing fossil fuels, customer conservation and energy efficiency.  We hit our 2020 GHG emissions reduction target in 2014 and are pressing ahead on aggressive clean energy goals.

• Use of private rooftop solar, increasingly with behind-the-meter energy storage, continues to expand. We expect the total will triple by 2040. By the end of 2017, more than 74,000 private rooftop solar systems were in use or approved across the five islands. One-third of our customers in single-family homes generate their own power part of the day.
  New programs -- such as Customer Grid-Supply Plus and Smart Export - are making solar financially attractive and the nation's first Customer Interconnection Tool provides a seamless, start-to-finish online solar application for customers across our five islands.

• We're in the midst of the largest renewable energy procurement effort in state history. We're seeking grid-scale projects using various renewable technologies - 220 megawatts for Oahu, 100 MW for Maui, and 70 MW for Hawaii Island - to come on line by 2022.

Projects recently added or in the pipeline:

• Oahu - 110 MW NRG projects (solar); 50 MW Schofield Generating Station (biofuel); 24 MW Na Pua Makani (wind); 20 MW with storage West Loch (solar)
• Hawaii Island - 22 MW Honua Ola (biomass) 
• Maui - 2.9 MW Kuia Solar, 2.9 MW South Maui Renewable Resources (solar)
• Molokai - 2.7 MW with storage Moloka'i New Energy Partners (solar)​

• Moving people and goods with electricity will save money for everyone (whether electric vehicle owners or not) and help the grid accept more renewables. About 7,000 electric vehicles are registered statewide, second in the nation per capita. Our newly released Electrification of Transportation Strategic Roadmap envisions half of light-duty vehicles (plus buses, trucks and harbor cranes) will run on electricity by 2045.
  With Drive Electric Hawaii and others, the Hawaiian Electric Companies are leading the shift to electric vehicles, installing fast chargers across our five-island service territory and promoting electric bus fleets and electric-powered airport and harbor facilities.
• As part of the first phase of our grid modernization strategy, we plan to add sensors and control systems to circuits with high levels of private rooftop solar. This is part of our plan to use to use 21st century technology to more efficiently operate the electric grid, accommodate more renewable resources and give customers more choices.
• The report details what 2,000-plus Hawaiian Electric employees across five islands do to make where we live, work and play better for all. Highlights include 14,461 community service hours by employees and families, $1.01 million in donations, including contributions from the Hawaiian Electric Industries Charitable Foundation; 3,589 pounds of food contributed to the food banks and 1,081 pints of blood donated to save lives.

The Sustainability Report notes that our companies' vision extends beyond electricity and getting off fossil fuels. We want to use technology and ingenuity to build smart, sustainable, resilient communities, making them cleaner, more efficient, more sustainable and less vulnerable.

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PBN: Hawaiian Electric reduces annual oil usage by more than 2M barrels over seven years 

IM: Hawaiian Electric Industries Releases Sustainability Report