Companies will reach 48% renewable electricity by 2020, including 100% renewable on Molokai
The Hawaiian Electric Companies have outlined a detailed plan charting the near-term actions that will lead to the use of renewable resources to meet 100 percent of Hawaii’s power generation needs by 2045.
The Power Supply Improvement Plan Update filed with the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission describes the work that will form the foundation to meet or exceed the state’s renewable energy milestones, which are the most ambitious in the country.
The updated plan describes greater and faster expansion of the companies’ renewable energy portfolio than in the plan filed in April 2016 and emphasizes work that is in progress or planned over the next five years on each of the five islands the Hawaiian Electric Companies serve.
The companies forecast that they will exceed the state’s renewable energy milestones in 2020 and can exceed the milestones in 2030 and 2040 by attaining a renewable portfolio standard (RPS) of at least 100 percent by the end of 2040; the mandated goal is 70 percent. This would be five years ahead of the 2045 deadline to reach the goal of 100 percent renewable energy.
One of the more realistic models forecasts 37 MW of new geothermal by 2040, probably on Maui. A more unrealistic model calls for 208 MW of new geothermal energy by 2045.
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