Power facts

by Peter Rosegg | May 17, 2021

For many of the nearly 20 years I’ve worked at Hawaiian Electric, one of my tasks each year is to update Power Facts, a “one-pager” on our website listing generation resources our company relies on to provide electricity to our customers. Check it out: Power Facts | Hawaiian Electric

Every year, I am struck by changes we’ve made or enabled. Other pages offer more detail, including our annual Sustainability Report and our company Key Performance Metrics.

But Power Facts tells the story in a simple, straightforward way. It was designed for “barbecue ambassadors,” what we once kiddingly called our employees who are often asked about Hawaiian Electric by family and friends, including at barbecues.

Today it’s used, I hope, by teachers, students and others interested in how we get the electricity essential for every aspect of our lives. Many changes are reflected in Power Facts. Here are some that impress me.

• Transitioning to renewables — Only a few years ago, most generation resources were owned by our company, with a few large independent power producers, mostly fossil fuel plants on Oahu. There were very few renewable energy generators, mostly on Maui and the Big Island.

Honolulu Power Plant was deactivated on Jan. 31, 2014.

• Diversifying our resources — Utility-owned generation resources are shrinking as a percentage of the total and virtually every new independent power producer is a renewable resource, mostly solar but some wind. We’ve closed two utility-scale fossil-fuel plants and more are scheduled.
• Changing renewable landscape — Before, a typical independent utility-scale solar facility (not a rooftop system) was one or two megawatts and a 5 MW system was “big.” Today, numerous 30 MW to 60 MW systems are in development on Oahu, Maui and Hawaii Island.

• Adding battery storage — Almost all new utility-scale solar systems in development include a battery energy storage system, or BESS, and other large storage-only facilities are planned. Of the 88,000 rooftop solar systems across the five islands we serve, nearly 11,000 include battery storage, and over 70% of new rooftop solar applications now include storage. Being able to save solar power generated midday for the evening and other purposes totally changes the solar game.
• Becoming one company — We no longer list Hawaii Electric Light, Maui Electric and Hawaiian Electric companies. We are all one company now, Hawaiian Electric, with generation listed for Oahu, Maui County (including Molokai and Lanai) and Hawaii Island.

Finally, each year the company’s renewable portfolio standard, or RPS, goes up. The RPS represents the renewable energy used by our customers as a percentage of total sales. For 2020, we were aiming at a mandated 30 percent and hit a record 35 percent. Even without the pandemic, which reduced our overall sales, we would have surpassed our goal. These are changes we can all be proud of.

Peter Rosegg is a senior corporate relations specialist at Hawaiian Electric Company.