Hawaiian Electric managed to raise its public fed-up factor several levels last week as it shed a series of green energy deals.
The company that makes and sells electricity on all islands except for Kauai succeeded in not just irritating, but actually infuriating both the chairman of the Public Utilities Commission and the chairman of the House Energy Committee.
“Every passing year that HECO doesn’t change its business model and move to cheaper renewable energy is another year we end up paying for more expensive fossil fuels,” said Rep. Chris Lee, the Kailua Democrat who heads the Energy Committee.
More blunt was Randy Iwase, PUC chairman, who described himself as “extremely disappointed.”
In an interview with Honolulu Star-Advertiser energy reporter Kathryn Mykleseth, Iwase said HECO is turning its back on 100 megawatts of renewable energy that would be produced at an extremely cheap 14 cents a kilowatt- hour.
“Hawaiian Electric: No more talk. You come up with something concrete. Tell us how you are going to get 100 megawatts of renewable energy only, ready to go, at less than 14 cents a kilowatt-hour by December 2016,” Iwase said.
At issue was HECO’s announcement that it was terminating a contract with three solar farms on Oahu. The contractor, SunEdison Inc., has already asked the PUC to block the termination. HECO has said it had concerns about SunEdison’s financial situation and failure to meet project deadlines, causing it to cancel the deal.
SunEdison had sunk $42 million into the three solar projects, with one of them already sprouting 1,240 solar panels in Waiawa.
In a formal statement, Iwase said HECO’s cancellation of both the solar projects and a Hawaii island biomass project, plus the delays with a new geothermal energy project, are adding to HECO’s credibility problems regarding renewable energy.
Iwase warned that the PUC is going to “determine whether the actions of the HECO companies were consistent with the interests of its customers and also consider any further action that may be necessary by the commission.”
Or in the words of Ricky Ricardo to Lucille Ball: “Alright. Start ’splaining.”
Lee added that HECO’s actions are a warning to renewable energy companies not to come to Hawaii to do business, because HECO really isn’t interested.
What is publicly unspoken, but on everyone’s mind, is that HECO is not looking for a business partner; HECO, and its merger partner NextEra Energy, are not interested in renewable energy as much as they are interested in controlling the market.
The businesses are about selling customers electricity, not helping you produce energy on your rooftop or having a third party sell energy. The doubt is that HECO wants renewable energy as much as it wants to guarantee that you will buy your electricity from them. In other words, solar energy should come not from the sun, but from HECO.
For the PUC, the recent HECO decisions clearly highlight the reasons for Gov. David Ige’s opposition to the merger and give substance to the worries about a monopoly controlling Hawaii’s energy future.
Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.
