Hawaiian Electric employees at a solar facility in Waianae.

Announcing Hawaii Powered

by Hawaii Powered | March 11, 2022

The Hawaiian Electric team is excited to announce a new public participation site at hawaiipowered.com! This site serves as an online hub for community members to learn about and get involved in planning for a clean energy future.

Read on to learn about the meaning behind “Hawaii Powered,” its connection to integrated grid planning, and what community members can expect to find on the site.

What is Hawaiian Electric doing to help slow climate change?

At Hawaiian Electric, our top priority is building a sustainable Hawaii in which our children and grandchildren, communities, customers and employees will thrive together. In 2021, Hawaiian Electric announced a bold Climate Change Action Plan centered on reducing carbon emissions as much as 70% by 2030 compared to 2005 levels and reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2045.

Reducing carbon emissions by more than two-thirds over this decade will be a stretch. We know it’s achievable, and if everyone pitches in, we’ll create a cost-effective, sustainable and resilient energy system for future generations.

You can read more about our carbon goals and Climate Change Action Plan on our website.

Hawi Renewable Development on Hawaii Island.

What does Hawaii Powered mean?

We believe our state’s energy goals are precedent-setting for two interconnected reasons: the ambitious commitment to transitioning to 100% clean energy by 2045, and the fact that this will come almost entirely from local renewables. Unlike the mainland, we cannot rely on importing clean energy from neighboring states when the wind is not blowing or the sun is not shining. Fortunately, Hawaii has an abundance of diverse, renewable resources that can power a resilient energy grid.

We use the phrase “Hawaii Powered” to talk about the unique opportunity and responsibility to generate 100% of our electricity from renewable resources on the islands. Hawaii Powered means clean energy for Hawaii, by Hawaii — celebrating our collective ability to find local solutions for renewable, resilient energy.

A Hawaii Powered future has many benefits:

• Transitioning to local sources of clean energy will help us achieve independence from oil and other external energy sources.
• It will also provide customers with more energy choices.
• And it supports a larger, collective effort to decarbonize our state.

Check out the video below for an introduction to Hawaii Powered.

How does Hawaii Powered relate to integrated grid planning?

You may also have heard the term, “integrated grid planning” when it comes to moving to 100% local, clean energy sources. Integrated grid planning (or “IGP”) is our path to a Hawaii Powered future. This planning process brings many people together to create a resilient and reliable grid from local, clean energy sources with various technologies and scales. Our challenge is to create a clean energy grid that:

• Stays on track with the state’s timelines
• Stabilizes costs for customers
• Reduces conflicts with other land use priorities
• Minimizes impacts to communities
• Improves our overall energy resilience

Integrated grid planning is like solving a giant puzzle with new pieces added along the way. Together with our stakeholder groups and community members, we work to prioritize, consider and connect those many pieces. We hope you’ll join us to learn and share your thoughts as we move toward a more equitable, sustainable and Hawaii Powered future.

Electricity pole maintenance on Oahu.

How can community members learn more and get involved?

We invite you to explore our public participation site for the latest information and opportunities to share your thoughts. On the site, you can:

• Read about how the transition to clean energy will affect us on customer, community and statewide levels.
• Learn about the sources and technology we currently use to generate clean energy and see how they contribute to our total energy portfolio.
• See a timeline of our planning process with details about our accomplishments and upcoming work.
• Explore key considerations in planning for a clean energy future.
• Sign up for email updates.
• Take our short survey to help us better understand you and your energy priorities.
• Request a presentation for your community organization.
• Learn about how we will use community input this year.
• …and more!

We’ll continue to update this site in the coming months, so stay tuned for more interactive tools and opportunities to share your thoughts. We welcome feedback and questions. Email us anytime at IGP@hawaiianelectric.com. Mahalo!

Learn more about Hawaii Powered and our clean energy future at www.hawaiipowered.com.