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That was a bit of sunny news this week: The enterprise to build three solar farms, canceled by Hawaiian Electric Co., may spring back to life.
The problem was linked to the financial problems of SunEdison, which had the contract for the farm sites near Waipio, Haleiwa and Mililani. But the company’s creditor, D.E. Shaw & Co., is offering to buy the project if the utility reinstates the contract. HECO is going to take that meeting.
The projects were to yield about 112 megawatts of power, propelling the state toward its 100 percent renewable energy goal, and at a lower rate to ratepayers. The Public Utilities Commission railed against letting all that go.
Meanwhile, SunEdison is flirting with default, missing deadlines to file its annual report.
Let’s hope at least something good can be salvaged here.
Motorists get a break, for now
Motorists can breathe a collective sigh of relief — for now, anyway — after lawmakers shelved a bill that would have raised the gas tax and vehicle registration fee increases.
The tax and fee would have raised an extra $70 million per year for the state Department of Transportation.
Despite a heavy push from Gov. David Ige’s administration, legislators maintained the transportation department has been unable to efficiently spend the money it already has. But Mike McCartney, Ige’s chief of staff, said it will try to salvage the bill before the session ends.
