Mapping Hawaiian Electric’s road to energy independence
by Shannon Tangonan | April 22, 2025
I’ll celebrate my ninth anniversary at Hawaiian Electric later this year — still a newbie in the eyes of my veteran colleagues, many of whom have decades of service under their belts. Jake, my son, was just 8 years old when he first visited his mom’s new office on King Street. We’ve moved twice since then.
In my short time at the company the view from my office has certainly changed, and I’ve seen our energy landscape transform in meaningful and important ways. You can see it clearly in the Sustainability Reports and Maps we’ve published over the years.
You might notice how difficult it’s become for our graphic designer, Amy, to include all the renewable energy projects that are online, awaiting approval, in progress or in negotiation. Put simply, we’re adding more generation to help meet our customers’ energy needs.
The most current and more recent generation maps are densely populated with projects marked by a green leaf, which indicates a renewable resource, and a blue battery for battery storage.
When I arrived in the fall of 2016, our consolidated renewable portfolio standard (RPS) was at 25.8%, which at that point was the percentage of renewable energy sold. It was a pretty impressive jump from the 11% RPS in 2011.
Fast forward to 2022 when the definition of RPS was changed by state law to reflect the percentage of electricity generated by renewable resources.
Using the newer calculation, our RPS in 2024 surged to 36%. And we’re on track to reach the 40% RPS even earlier than the 2030 mandate. See our progress from 2023 to 2024:
In the latest Sustainability Report and Maps we removed asterisks noting “in progress” from the following projects that came online:
- AES West Oʻahu Solar, 12.5 megawatts (MW) with a 50 megawatt-hour (MWh) battery energy storage system (BESS), in March 2024
- AES Kūihelani Solar, 60 MW with 240 MWh BESS, on Maui in May
- Kūpono Solar, 42 MW with 168 MWh BESS, on Oʻahu in June
- Hale Kuawehi, 30 MW with 120 MWh BESS, on Hawaiʻi Island in March
In addition, Hoʻohana Solar I, 52 MW with 208 MWh BESS on Oʻahu, is expected to complete commissioning and achieve commercial operations this year.
New private rooftop solar installation, also known as distributed energy resources or DER, totaled 61 MW. If this pace continues, we’ll be on track to exceed the forecasted cumulative solar capacity of 1,186 by 2030. About 43% of single-family homes served by Hawaiian Electric have rooftop solar.
When I first started at the company, I worked in the DER department (now Customer Energy Resources or CER) facilitating communication with customers waiting to install their solar systems. The process is much more streamlined, making it quicker and simpler to install rooftop solar and battery storage.
The addition of grid-scale and rooftop solar to our island grids contributes toward building a cleaner, more sustainable and resilient energy system for our customers and future generations.
I want my son, now 17, to reap the benefits of all the work we’re doing today.
Shannon Tangonan is a senior communications specialist at Hawaiian Electric.
