Postcard from Hawaii to Nation’s Capital

The mood at the second annual VERGE conference in Honolulu, Hawaii last week was upbeat about the future of clean energy, despite pushback on the US mainland. Apparently, those committed to a clean energy agenda, including the private sector, are more motivated than ever to push forward with aggressive programs to bring renewables resources online. They aim to not only combat climate change, but also create jobs.

Conference attendees clearly supported the supposition that clean energy is here to stay, no matter what might be unfolding in Washington, DC. The proposed dismantling of the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan and recent withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Agreement on climate change only seemed to serve as motivation to push forward even harder.

Hawaii’s Renewable Energy Vision

Hawaii is the first (and so far) only state in the United States to commit to a 100% renewable energy future. Governor David Ige of Hawaii didn’t seem to blink in the face of counter currents flowing from the Trump administration. A confessed energy geek, he seemed to take particular delight in the fact that Hawaii has emerged as a key testing ground for bolstering commitments to infrastructure needed to integrate variable renewables for both power and transportation services. Since each island of Hawaii is its own separate electric grid control area and retail costs are high due to such a reliance upon imported sources of fossil fuel, Hawaii is in a unique spot. The economics in the state clearly favor renewable energy.

Industry Momentum Is for Renewables

Even Connie Lau, CEO of Hawaiian Electric Industries, reported that her investor-owned utilities brethren have all bought into the clean energy agenda. If the administrative about-face on clean energy had occurred 8 years ago, then the momentum for renewables and other clean energy may have been halted, but that time has passed. Past government and industry investments have driven down the price of solar PV, wind, and batteries while software innovation to manage such resources has scaled up.

Nevertheless, there are challenges in implementing aggressive clean energy goals. Just look at California, where the state is paying neighboring states to take excess solar production. Many models show that once one reaches 80%-90% renewables penetration, the cost of integration can jump dramatically.

One of the key tools Hawaii will rely upon to reach its 100% renewable energy goal is to integrate devices like energy storage into self-balancing distribution networks such as microgrids. As of now, over 90 MW of new energy storage devices has been authorized by state regulators to be installed among the Hawaiian islands, with the majority of that capacity—70 MW—to be installed in Oahu.

Continuing Conversation

I had the pleasure of helping to run a 4-hour workshop on how to overcome challenges to developing a microgrid at VERGE with cutting edge microgrid market makers such as ENGIE and Spirae. I also moderated a session on how microgrids boost clean energy on islands, with featured speakers from ABB—which is pushing forward with a 134 MW microgrid designed to reach 50% renewable energy on the island of Aruba by 2020—and representatives from Hawaii and the US Navy.

Ironically, there may still be some room for collaboration between Hawaii and Washington, DC in the clean energy space. As I noted in a previous in a previous blog, one area where the interests in promoting national security in DC and a clean energy agenda in Hawaii align is the microgrid space. Watch for a report on that topic later this year.