HONOLULU, Oct. 24, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of its
commitment to bring more low-cost clean energy online, Hawaiian
Electric Company, subsidiary of Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc.
(NYSE: HE), has filed a request with the Hawaii Public Utilities
Commission to proceed with the development of a 15-megawatt
photovoltaic system on undeveloped land at the Kahe Generating
Station.
Developing the project on land owned by Hawaiian Electric helps
to reduce the cost to customers. Based on preliminary estimates,
the project, over its lifespan, would reduce the overall cost of
generating electricity on Oʻahu by $64
million while displacing approximately 1.8 million gallons
of oil per year.
This level of savings is equivalent to a 20-year power purchase
agreement with a price of 14.5 cents
per kilowatt-hour. That is significantly less than the cost of
using oil to produce power, which is currently estimated at
22.7 cents per kWh.
"This is a unique opportunity that benefits our customers
because it allows us to quickly develop more low-cost clean
energy," said Ron Cox, Hawaiian
Electric vice president of power supply.
SolarCity, with local operations in Mililani, was selected through a competitive
procurement process to construct the 50-acre PV project. Hawaiian
Electric would own and operate the system.
"Hawaiian Electric's project is proof that solar power can
protect Hawaiʻi's environment and strengthen its economy at the
same time by providing clean energy less expensively than power
generated from fossil fuels," said Jon
Yoshimura, SolarCity's regional director in Hawaiʻi. "The
SolarCity team in Mililani is
honored to be selected for this project and we're excited to work
with Hawaiian Electric to deliver more clean, homegrown energy to
Oʻahu residents."
The project would include equipment for safe connection to the
grid and would directly connect at Hawaiian Electric's 46 kilovolt
substation at Kahe power plant. As a result, it will not currently
impact residential or commercial customers who wish to install PV
systems on their rooftops, which connect through Hawaiian
Electric's 12 kV distribution system.
The request filed by Hawaiian Electric asks the PUC to grant a
waiver from competitive bidding for projects larger than 5 MW. A
waiver would allow customers to more quickly benefit from more
low-cost renewable energy and reduce project costs by enabling
Hawaiian Electric to use federal tax credits, which could be
reduced or eliminated. Pending regulatory approval and the
completion of necessary environmental and cultural reviews, the
system is expected to be operational by the end of 2015.
This project is Hawaiian Electric's latest effort to lower bills
for customers, improve service, and develop more low-cost clean
energy resources. Other recent actions include:
- Pursuing, pending Public Utilities Commission approval, five
new low-cost renewable energy projects on O'ahu – including four
solar farms and one wind farm – with a combined capacity of 64
MW
- Continuing to help customers install PV projects (through
September 2013, there were more than
35,000 installed PV systems across the companies' service
territories with a combined capacity of approximately 260 MW)
- Planning the deactivation of older, less efficient utility
generating units on O'ahu, Maui
and Hawai'i Island for a combined 226 MW – about 14 percent of
generation owned by the utilities
- Working with the State of Hawaiʻi and other stakeholders to
pursue cleaner and lower-cost liquefied natural gas to replace more
expensive petroleum fuels in our generating units
Contact:
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Darren Pai, (808)
543-7753
|
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darren.pai@hawaiianelectric.com
|
|
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For institutional
investor inquiries:
|
Contact:
|
Shelee Kimura, (808)
543-7384
|
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skimura@hei.com
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(Logo:
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110411/LA80136LOGO)
SOURCE Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc.