Lawmakers passed several energy bills Tuesday that could change Hawaii’s energy landscape, including one correcting a snafu in the state’s 100 percent renewable energy goal that would allow for future fossil fuel use.
The full House sent more than a dozen energy bills — most unanimously — to the Senate that include offering a financial incentive for batteries connected to rooftop solar systems, encouraging the state to cut all use of fossil fuels for energy including transportation, and requiring the state Public Utilities Commission to set up performance standards the electric utility would need to abide by to get paid.
Far from becoming law, these bills’ crossings mark the halfway point as they are set to be heard by applicable Senate committees.
One of the bills passed Tuesday, House Bill 2291, would change the calculation of the state’s 100 percent renewable energy law. The state’s current law to reach 100 percent renewable energy by 2045 allows for the use of fossil fuels beyond the goal in the way that it is calculated. In the calculation, Hawaii would still reach 100 percent renewable with fossil fuels as long as the amount of generation coming from those facilities matched the amount of generation coming from customer rooftop solar systems connected to the grid. Hawaiian Electric Co., the state’s largest electric utility, said it supports changing the current formula in the law but opposes the specific language in the bill that passed to the Senate.
“We support amending the formula to close the loophole in the calculation many have expressed a concern about,” HECO spokeswoman Lynne Unemori said. “We just want the bill to go further to ensure it addresses another loophole that remains.”
The bill applies to the state’s electric utilities but not customers. HECO said some of its commercial customers use fossil fuels to generate their own electricity.
Another bill state representatives approved, House Bill 212 HD2, creates an income tax credit for taxpayers who purchase and install battery backup systems for solar energy systems. The bill, titled “Battery Backup System Tax Credit,” Opens in a new tab would complement a recent program created by state regulators in which customers looking to get solar can apply to the utility under an expedited review if their solar systems are connected to batteries. This program was one of two that replaced a popular incentive program called net energy metering, which credited customers the full retail rate for the excess energy their systems send to the grid.
State Rep. Gene Ward (R, Kalama Valley-Queen’s Gate-Hawaii Kai) said during the session that this bill “is a game changer.”
HB 2085 Opens in a new tab HD2 seeks in part to eliminate Hawaii’s dependence on imported fossil fuels for ground transportation by 2045.
“We want to set transportation targets that mirror our electrical targets,”said Jeff Mikulina, executive director of Blue Planet Foundation. “It’s critical so 100 percent means 100 percent.”
HB 264 Opens in a new tab9 HD2 tweaks the current system so that electric utility revenue is based partially on clean energy.
“There is a need to change the way the utility makes money and is incentivized to raise consumer costs year after year after year,” said State Rep. Chris Lee (D-Kailua, Waimanalo).
The bill lists different standards that the PUC can use to review the electric utilities’ performance, including utilities complying with the state’s renewable portfolio standards, electric rate affordability, service reliability, levels of customer service and connecting renewable energy sources, such as rooftop solar.
