Maui faces uncertainty over the future of its energy grid

Hawaiian Electric Co. officials say they hope to have four new renewable energy projects across Maui online by 2028 in what’s proving to be a challenging switch from fossil fuels to a grid powered by wind, solar and other clean energy sources on that island.

Those proposed projects at Maalaea, Pulehunui and Wanea remain in the early phases and still have key hurdles to clear, HECO officials told community members at a PUC-organized meeting on Maui last week. They still have to earn community buy-in, reach successful contract negotiations with the developers, and ultimately win approval from the Public Utilities Commission.

HECO’s briefing on the island’s power grid came as Maui leaders separately consider just how aggressively they should pursue putting utility lines underground to help avoid sparking future wildfires. The effort would be costly, but it’s gained vocal support among many Maui residents following last year’s deadly Lahaina wildfire. So far, however, there’s no plan.

The clean-energy projects, meanwhile, aim to replace four previously planned renewable proposals on Maui that collapsed in the past five years or so amid legal challenges, community push-back and rising costs related to the Covid-19 pandemic.

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New renewable projects will be critical to keeping the energy flowing reliably on Maui’s energy grid after 2028, when the island faces the inevitable loss of some 88 megawatts of firm, diesel- and oil-powered energy at its power plants in Maalaea and Kahului, according to Mike DeCaprio, HECO’s vice president for power supply.

Currently, power generation is stable on Maui, DeCaprio told attendees at the PUC meeting Tuesday.

However, by 2028 “there’s going to be a lot of risk and a lot of challenges unless certain things are done” to replace that lost energy, which represents some 35% of all so-called “firm” energy generated on Maui, DeCaprio added.

HECO has a plan, “but it’s going to be challenging,” he said.

The state’s largest power supplier has until 2028 to shut down its 38-megawatt Kahului power plant under state environmental requirements.

It also stands to lose 50 megawatts of capacity at its diesel-powered Maalaea plant in the coming years after its Japanese parts supplier informed HECO that the engines there are now obsolete and that it would no longer manufacture the necessary replacement parts.

The newly launched 60-megawatt Kuihelani solar project at Maalaea will help replace what’s being lost, but HECO still needs more projects to ensure Maui’s reliable transition to clean energy, HECO officials said.

They hope to eventually add an additional 40 megawatts from more solar panels and battery storage at the Kuihelani site, plus extend the existing Kaheawa 30-megawatt wind project at Maalaea for another 20 years, according to Rebecca Dayhuff Matsushima, HECO’s vice president for resource procurement.

HECO also looks to build a 20-megawatt solar and battery storage facility at Pulehunui and a 40-megawatt biofuel facility at Waena, Matsushima said Tuesday.

A fifth, 20-megawatt solar and battery storage project that was part of that new batch of renewable projects and slated to be built in Kihei has been canceled due to “site control issues,” she added.

Pushing For More Undergound Lines

Maui’s political leaders also grappled last week with whether to expand requirements to bury electrical lines and other utilities underground across the island, following the deadly wildfires that destroyed most of Lahaina last year.

Specifically, they discussed whether to advance Bill 90, which would require power lines to be buried underground at most new developments across Maui, including those in areas zoned residential, agricultural and rural.

Many Maui community members have expressed strong support for putting those lines underground after the Lahaina tragedy. However, the bill stops short of requiring that electrical lines be placed underground in the burn zone as part of the rebuild.

“I kind of wanted Lahaina to decide for Lahaina,” council member Gabe Johnson, who introduced the bill, said during Tuesday’s committee meeting. “If Lahaina wants it and we’ve got the political will to do it, I’m in full support of doing it that way as well.”

HECO officials at the meeting said that burying power lines underground typically costs five to 10 times more than erecting them overhead. It typically costs between $500,000 to $1 million to erect power lines overhead per mile, they said.

The company has further estimated that it would cost $7 billion to install underground all of the remaining distribution lines that haven’t been built yet across Maui. Those costs would largely be covered by developers who would then pass those costs along to property owners and tenants, officials said at the meeting.

It would also take longer to put the lines underground as part of rebuilding Lahaina than it would to put them overhead, HECO officials said. They didn’t say how much longer, however. Regardless of whether any of the new lines go underground, the company will “harden” the lines along key evacuation routes to avoid a repeat of what happened in Lahaina, they added.

Still, Johnson said putting the power lines underground is essential to better protect Maui residents against another wildfire catastrophe.

“We want to make our towns resilient. Undergrounding power lines, fuel breaks, taxes on fallow lanes with 8-foot tall guinea grass … Maui is dry as a bone, the summer heat is kicking in and we’re coming on a year since the fire,” he said in a follow-up interview.

The committee didn’t take action on Bill 90 at the meeting. It’s not clear whether its members will revisit the proposal going forward.

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This story was originally published by Honolulu Civil Beat and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.