Hawaii’s renewable tender to deliver major solar and storage push

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
Image credit: Martin Zangerl / Unsplash

The largest renewable tender in Hawaii’s history has chosen its winners, contracting a solar and storage pipeline that exceeds anything the US state has ever seen.

Investor-owned utility Hawaiian Electric said this week the tender it launched last August had selected 16 solar-plus-storage or standalone storage projects (see table below) across Oahu, Maui and Hawaii Island, a fleet of 460MW of PV and nearly 3GWh of storage capacity in total.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Unlock unlimited access for 12 whole months of distinctive global analysis

Photovoltaics International is now included.

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Unlimited digital access to the PV Tech Power journal catalogue
  • Unlimited digital access to the Photovoltaics International journal catalogue
  • Access to more than 1,000 technical papers
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

The winning developers were not named at this stage, with information on project size and location due to be shared “in 30 days or sooner”. The utility – which will now start negotiating contracts with developers – noted that the deals must be endorsed by Hawaii’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC).

Hawaii’s new solar and storage tender winners, in numbers

Island Solar-plus-storage Standalone storage Overall capacity
Oahu island 8 projects 1 project 287MW of generation and 1.8GWh of storage
Maui island 3 projects 1 project 100MW of generation and 560MWh of storage
Hawaii island 2 projects 1 project 72MW of generation and 492MWh of storage
Source: Hawaiian Electric

Hawaiian Electric directed the chosen developers to begin outreach with local communities. Bidders’ “plan for meaningful community engagement” and project location had been as much of a selection factor as price and technology considerations, the utility said.

Jim Alberts, VP for business development and strategic planning at Hawaiian Electric, said the utility is aware of the “increasing concern” around the location of renewable projects. “That's why we say we need everyone working together – developers, government, communities and Hawaiian Electric – if we're going to meet our clean energy goals,” Alberts added.

The utility – which itself bid for five projects and was contracted for two standalone storage ventures – said the timeline for the overall 460MW / 3GWh fleet would have plants start hitting commercial launch in 2022. Disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic makes delays a possibility, Hawaiian Electric said.

The solar and storage push comes as Hawaii works to become fully renewable by 2045. The US state will have to fill the gap left behind by the shuttering of a 180MW coal-fired plant on O’ahu and a 27.6MW oil-powered plant on Maui in 2022 and 2024, respectively.

This year’s tender comes after a 260MW / 1GWh solar-plus-storage pipeline of eight projects was contracted through a first procurement phase, in 2018. Slated to come online in 2021, the ventures were contracted at average tariffs of 9.38 US dollar cents per kWh.

According to the recent stats, the Aloha State’s clean energy developers are finding themselves among the most impacted of the pandemic-hit US. In an update released this week, E2, ACORE and others singled out the state as having lost 25% of its clean energy workforce during April 2020 alone.

21 May 2024
Napa, USA
PV Tech has been running PV ModuleTech Conferences since 2017. PV ModuleTech USA, on 21-22 May 2024, will be our third PV ModulelTech conference dedicated to the U.S. utility scale solar sector. The event will gather the key stakeholders from solar developers, solar asset owners and investors, PV manufacturing, policy-making and and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out the PV module supply channels to the U.S. out to 2025 and beyond.
8 October 2024
San Francisco Bay Area, USA
PV Tech has been running an annual PV CellTech Conference since 2016. PV CellTech USA, on 8-9 October 2024 is our second PV CellTech conference dedicated to the U.S. manufacturing sector. The event in 2023 was a sell out success and 2024 will once again gather the key stakeholders from PV manufacturing, equipment/materials, policy-making and strategy, capital equipment investment and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out PV manufacturing in the U.S. out to 2030 and beyond.
26 November 2024
Málaga, Spain
Understanding PV module supply to the European market in 2025. PV ModuleTech Europe 2024 is a two-day conference that tackles these challenges directly, with an agenda that addresses all aspects of module supplier selection; product availability, technology offerings, traceability of supply-chain, factory auditing, module testing and reliability, and company bankability.

Read Next

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Solar Media Events
April 10, 2024
Dallas, Texas USA
Solar Media Events
April 17, 2024
Lisbon, Portugal
Solar Media Events
May 1, 2024
Dallas, Texas
Solar Media Events
May 21, 2024
Napa, USA