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By Andrew Gomes
Today • Updated 8:11 a.m.
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Hawaiian Electric is moving ahead with a long-delayed and scaled-back plan by a renewable energy development firm to establish a major solar farm with battery storage on Maui.
The utility company on Monday submitted an application to purchase electricity from the proposed Pulehu Solar project being advanced by an affiliate of Virginia-based AES Corp. after a larger version was abandoned by another firm, Massachusetts-based Longroad Energy.
Hawaiian Electric said in its application to the state Public Utilities Commission that the currently planned 20-megawatt solar farm with 80 megawatt-hours of battery energy storage will help meet a state goal to generate all electricity from renewable resources by 2045 at a modest extra expense for typical residential customers.
A typical Maui residential customer using 500 kilowatt-hours of electricity per month is expected to pay an additional $4.49 a month for 20 years under the proposal for Hawaiian Electric to buy electricity from AES generated by Pulehu Solar at a fixed price, according to the application.
“The (power purchase agreement) is expected to have a modest impact on customer bills under the modeled assumptions,” the application said.
Hawaiian Electric said the bill-impact estimate is conservative, and could be lower. The company also noted that proposed contract would allow Hawaiian Electric to control when energy is stored and delivered, which involves an extra cost but helps maximize grid reliability and renewable energy use.
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The project, slated for 370 acres of pasture land at Haleakala Ranch three miles makai of Kula off Pulehu Road, is expected to produce enough clean energy annually to power the equivalent of nearly 10,000 Maui households.
“Pulehu Solar would add another source of locally produced renewable energy to Maui’s grid while helping reduce exposure to the volatility of imported fuel prices,” Brendan Bailey, Hawaiian Electric vice president of resource procurement, said in a statement. “We look forward to the commission’s review of this proposed agreement and appreciate the extensive engagement that has helped shape the project.”
An earlier version of Pulehu Solar initiated by Longroad was twice as big, and involved community outreach dating back to 2017. It was projected for completion in 2023. However, a power purchase agreement application filed with the PUC in 2020 was rejected after amendments were proposed following project cost increases and a global supply chain crisis related to worldwide efforts combating the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
Under the proposed power purchase agreement from 2020, Hawaiian Electric estimated that a typical residential Maui customer could save about $3.07 per month on average over 25 years.
Later, AES took over a scaled-back version of the project from Longroad, and Hawaiian Electric said design changes were made based on community feedback, including moving the battery energy storage system and a substation farther from nearby residences, increasing wildfire protection measures, adding landscaping and vegetative screening, lowering the placement of solar arrays and modifying the layout to avoid identified cultural resources.
The PUC is to consider the revised project in a quasi-judicial proceeding that involves input from stakeholders including the state consumer advocate representing ratepayers. If the power purchase agreement application is approved, Hawaiian Electric anticipates that the solar farm will be producing electricity for commercial use by late 2030.
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