HONOLULU, Aug. 29, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Hawaiian
Electric Companies (NYSE:HE) filed their Grid Modernization
Strategy with the Hawaiʻi Public Utilities Commission (PUC) today,
providing a roadmap for building more resilient and renewable-ready
island grids.
Today's filing follows the submission of the companies' draft
report in late June. The draft was posted online and presented at
four public meetings on Maui,
Hawaiʻi Island and Oʻahu to review the strategy with customers,
answer their questions and receive their comments. Dozens of
written comments and transcripts of the public meetings are
included in a separate document that accompanied the filing.
The plan, "Modernizing Hawaiʻi's Grid for Our Customers,"
outlines near-term initiatives that strengthen the grid through
investments in technology to enable more renewable energy resources
to be safely and efficiently integrated with the grid, including
private rooftop solar.
Longer term, the strategy is to continue to evolve the grid as a
platform to enable greater customer choice and support statewide
economic development and "smart communities" efforts that rely on
robust data and energy management systems.
The Companies estimate it will cost $205
million to update the energy networks of Hawaiian Electric,
Maui Electric and Hawaiʻi Electric Light over the next six years.
The plan aims to help bring on more renewable resources –
customer-sited and grid-sourced – increase reliability, and give
customers new choices to manage their energy use.
Highlights of this near-term work include:
- Distribution of smart meters strategically rather than
system-wide, i.e., to customers with private rooftop solar on
saturated circuits and customers interested in demand response
programs, variable rates or electricity usage data
- Reliance on advanced inverter technology to enable greater
rooftop solar adoption
- Expanded use of voltage management tools, especially on
circuits with heavy solar penetration to maximize circuit
capacities for private rooftop solar and other customer
resources
- Enhanced outage management and notification technology
To read the filing, please use the following links:
http://www.hawaiianelectric.com/gridmod
http://www.mauielectric.com/gridmod
http://www.hawaiielectriclight.com/gridmod
This release may contain "forward-looking statements," which
include statements that are predictive in nature, depend upon or
refer to future events or conditions, and usually include words
such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans,"
"believes," "predicts," "estimates" or similar expressions.
In addition, any statements concerning future financial
performance, ongoing business strategies or prospects or possible
future actions are also forward-looking statements. Forward-looking
statements are based on current expectations and projections about
future events and are subject to risks, uncertainties and the
accuracy of assumptions concerning the Hawaiian Electric Company
and its subsidiaries, the performance of the industries in which
they do business and economic and market factors, among other
things. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of
future performance.
Forward-looking statements in this release should be read in
conjunction with the "Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking
Statements" and "Risk Factors" discussions set forth in HEI's and
Hawaiian Electric's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and
HEI's and Hawaiian Electric's other filings with the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission that discuss important factors
that could cause HEI's and Hawaiian Electric's results to differ
materially from those anticipated in such statements. These
forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of the release
in which they are made. Except to the extent required by the
federal securities laws, HEI, Hawaiian Electric, American Savings
Bank and their subsidiaries undertake no obligation to publicly
update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a
result of new information, future events or otherwise.
CONTACT:
|
Shannon Tangonan,
808.351.4978
|
|
shannon.putnam@hawaiianelectric.com
|
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SOURCE Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc.