DENNIS ODA / 2017
Billionaire Larry Ellison at the Four Season Resort Lanai.
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Hawaiian Electric reported Friday that its talks of a sale of Lanai’s electric system with Pulama Lanai have ended.
Billionaire Larry Ellison’s firm, Pulama Lanai, approached Hawaiian Electric in 2019 about acquiring the assets of the utility after Hawaiian Electric issued a request for proposals for renewable energy projects on the island.
Ellison, founder of Oracle Corp., owns 98 percent of the island.
Hawaiian Electric said in a news release that it is working with the Public Utilities Commission and other interested parties to revise the request for proposals and to continue its efforts to transition to using renewable resources to generate electricity from the use of fossil fuels.
The RFP deadline was put on hold while the sales discussions were ongoing.
Hawaiian Electric’s Maui County and Hawaii Island utilities president, Sharon Suzuki, said, “We’ll continue working with Pulama Lanai and the community to develop options for a sustainable energy future that can work to everyone’s benefit.”