The state Consumer Advocate on Wednesday said the two developers of renewable-energy projects recently rejected by Hawaiian Electric Co. need to provide concessions to customers and prove their projects are viable — or the contracts should be terminated.
Consumer Advocate Jeff Ono said Hu Honua LLC, a biomass facility on the Big Island that plans to burn eucalyptus for energy, needs to provide evidence that the project can be finished and should offer additional savings to customers. Ono said SunEdison Inc., the current owner of three Oahu solar farms rejected by HECO, needs to show that the company’s potential bankruptcy will not halt the projects.
“We’re saying, either the Commission should terminate the contract or, if you are not going to terminate the contract, there should be an amendment to the power purchase agreement (PPA) to lower customer bills,” Ono said. “In addition, the developers need to come forward and prove that they can do this project.”
HECO plans to end contracts with Hu Honua as well as the three solar farms earlier this month. The utility said that the financial health of the project developers was a major concern, as was the fact that the two developers were not able to meet deadlines.
Following HECO’s actions, Public Utilities Commission Chairman Randy Iwase said he was disappointed with the utility for canceling the projects and that the actions set a bad precedent.
Hu Honua said Wednesday in a press release that Hawaiian Electric Light Co., the Big Island electric utility, provided incomplete and misleading information when terminating the project.
Ono defended HELCO’s decision.
“This is not HELCO’s doing. This is the developer that is having all of these problems,” Ono said.
HELCO said the project missed too many deadlines. The project was originally expected to start serving customers last month. Last July, Hu Honua failed to meet milestones guaranteed in the project, HELCO said.
Hu Honua said it has invested $100 million to date in the biomass-to-energy project, which is approximately half finished. It said it arranged full financing from its investor base and that the plant can be operational in approximately 12 to 16 months.
One of the problems HELCO and Ono have with the project is that the pricing by Hu Honua was too high, they say. Ono and HELCO have said Hu Honua should lower its price.
SunEdison, the other rejected developer, has also been facing financial difficulties. Both the utility and Ono have said this is a concern.
The Maryland Heights, Mo.-based solar-and-wind-power provider’s stock price is down 75 percent this year.
SunEdison was in the process of selling the three Oahu solar farms and other projects to pay off $336 million of debt. The company said it reached an agreement in December with D.E. Shaw Group, Madison Dearborn Capital Partners IV LP and Northwestern University.
Ono said that if SunEdison — even if D.E. Shaw finalizes the purchase — is still involved with the build-out, the agency wants proof that if SunEdison filed for bankruptcy, it would not stop or delay the three projects.
“We don’t want HECO ratepayers taking on any of the risks for a bankruptcy what would stall these projects and if the risks are too great, maybe we are better off going somewhere else and finding replacements for these projects,” Ono said.
Also Wednesday, NextEra Energy Inc., the company looking to buy Hawaiian Electric Inc., responded to questions raised by Hu Honua and SunEdison about NextEra’s role in the decisions to terminate the contracts.
Rob Gould, spokesman for NextEra, said HECO made the decision to terminate the contracts and NextEra approved.
“Under the merger agreement, we have to consent to material contract changes, including the amendment or termination of PPAs,” Gould said. “HECO made the decisions, we agreed they were the right decisions for customers, and we therefore granted our consent.”
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CORRECTION: Hawaii Electric Light Company told the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission it plans to terminate its contract with Hu Honua Bioenergy on March 1. An earlier version of this story and Thursday B5 article incorrectly said HECO had terminated the contract with Hu Honua.
