Pacific Business News: Hawaiian Electric Submits Statement Supporting Hu Honua Project to PUC
Aug 13, 2020
By Megan Fernandes
The Hu Honua project continues to be in limbo now that the deadline for submitted testimony passed on Monday, and the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission must now review a large amount of newly submitted information and testimony.
Hawaiian Electric Light Company, now referred to as simply Hawaiian Electric, submitted its position statement to the PUC in support of Honua Ola Bioenergy’s motion for reconsideration of Order No.37205, which closed the docket and dismissed the power purchase agreement, or PPA, between Honua Ola Bioenergy and Hawaiian Electric,
essentially halting the project.
夏威夷电力在声明中称它提出with the PUC that there is still sufficient basis in the record to grant a waiver of the competitive bidding framework for the amended and restated PPA between the two companies.
效用表示,2017年的豁免批准beyond the scope of The Hawaii Supreme Court’s remand as it “did not relate to either the GHG emissions or the scope of Life of the Land’s participation in a contested case and the bases for granting the waiver in 2017 remain valid today.”
“[Hawaiian Electric] recognizes that Hu Honua Bioenergy’s project has its share of supporters and opponents, and firmly believes that the issues raised by all stakeholders in this docket should be thoroughly vetted and addressed,” the utility stated. “Given the current status of the project and the time and expense that all parties have expended on this matter, [Hawaiian Electric] respectfully believes that can best be accomplished by the Commission making a substantive decision on the merits of the project [price and GHG emissions as directed by the Hawaii Supreme Court.]”
Many have been vocal for and against the project.
Most recently, grassroots organizations Just Transition Hawaii Coalition and Malama Hamakua filed a virtual video petition with the PUC against the motion of reconsideration, with 44 residents and politicians testifying.
In late July, Honua Ola Bioenergy’s union members, current employees and members of the community rallied at Honua Ola Bioenergy’s Hu Honua facility on Hawaii Island in support.
To date, Honua Ola Bioenergy has spent more than $330 million in construction costs of the 21.5-megawatt plant on Hawaii Island and $474 million in all-in costs, PBN previously reported. Hu Honua’s representation said that during the Supreme Court appeal the commission never recommended that Honua Ola stop or hold off on construction.
Hawaiian Electric states that it was “neither necessary nor appropriate to reopen the issue of whether the 2017 waiver was justified” since the Hawaii Supreme Court never provided support for or any instruction to the Commission to reconsider its prior decision relating to the 2017 waiver.
“The Hu Honua Project provides true firm, dispatchable, renewable energy to the [Hawaiian Electric’s Hawaii Island] grid,” the company said to the PUC. “As true firm generation, this project has additional benefits to the grid beyond the solar and battery projects being procured in the Phase 1 and Phase 2 request for proposals. As previously noted by the Commission, this project represents an opportunity to increase the amount of renewable energy on [Hawaiian Electric’s] system, without increasing the amount of as-available, intermittent renewable energy
resources on [Hawaiian Electric’s] system. That statement remains true today. Further, as noted in the Motion, Hu Honua has stated that its Project is 99% complete and therefore would likely beat any new procurement to its in-service date.”
The legal challenges the project has faced since it was first introduced in 2008 are complex and run alongside the ever-changing vision for the industry and legislation stemming around Hawaii’s charge to 100% renewable portfolio standards. A Hawaiian Electric spokesperson recently said in a statement to PBN that a lot has has changed since this project was first proposed 12 years ago.
“The renewable energy landscape and economics are dramatically different,” Hawaiian Electric told PBN. “We continue to advocate for a diverse portfolio approach to ensure reliability and affordability as we transition off fossil fuels. Even without Hu Honua, proposed and existing renewable energy projects — wind, geothermal, grid-scale and rooftop solar, hydroelectricity, energy storage – will enable Hawaii Island to use renewable resources to generate nearly all of its electricity by the end of this decade.”