How is Hawai'i meeting the challenge of rapidly transitioning to 100% renewable energy?
The Challenge
With Hawaiʻi’s last remaining coal plant closing and new renewable energy projects plagued by delays, the State’s successful energy efficiency program had a critical role to play in avoiding a potential generation shortfall and achieving a successful transition to 100% renewable energy.
The Solution
For Hawai’i Energy, VEIC helped design and deploy new programming and strategies for large energy users as well as residential clients. Diversifying solutions was the key to success. Services: Energy Efficiency , Building Decarbonization , Clean and Flexible Grid
The Impact
Since 2021, Hawaiʻi Energy programs delivering energy efficiency, peak reduction, and storage will reduce electricity demand by 514.56 gWh —enough to power nearly 46,000 homes for one year.
Setting an Ambitious Clean Energy Goal
With its Clean Energy Initiative, Hawaiʻi became the first state in the nation to adopt the goal of 100% renewable electricity by 2045. When it comes to achieving an ambitious target like this one, there is no simple, out-of-the-box solution. Getting there means tackling a complex problem from many angles at once—it means growing the amount of renewable energy on the grid, reducing the state’s overall demand for electricity, and increasing grid flexibility.
Relying on imported fossil fuels for more than 60% of its energy needs, Hawaiʻi has the highest retail electricity price of any state, more than three times higher than the US average. Over the next two years, as more of Hawaiʻi’s fossil fuel power plants close, the state will need to find other ways to meet its energy needs. Hawaiʻi Energy, the state’s energy efficiency program, will play an increasingly vital role.
In the first seven years of its work, Hawaiʻi Energy generated 830.8 million kilowatt hours of lifetime energy savings, reducing strain on the grid by lowering the total demand for electricity. As a trusted partner, VEIC worked with the implementor of Hawaiʻi Energy to develop and deliver new and innovative programming that advances the state’s clean energy transition.
“VEIC has been a key member of our implementation team, especially as we expand our programs to achieve new benchmarks. The breadth of their experience—from energy efficiency and customer engagement to grid-interactive buildings and demand side management—has made it possible for us to rapidly test and scale the kinds of innovative programming we need to reach 100% renewable energy by 2045. It’s been a terrific partnership.”
Meeting Challenges with Innovation
The scheduled closure of Hawaiʻi’s last remaining coal plant in 2022 presented the team with a unique challenge. Located on Oʻahu, the coal plant provided roughly 16% of the island’s electricity. Numerous disruptions prevented renewable energy projects from coming online prior to the closure of the coal plant and threatened to create a generation shortfall. The Hawaiʻi Public Utilities Commission needed innovative solutions right away.
VEIC helped design and test a series of residential programs that build on Hawaiʻi Energy’s successful track record of energy savings and make it possible to shape and shift electrical loads to periods when the grid is less constrained. With decarbonization program planning experience ranging from refrigerant management to commercial energy storage, residential smart-metering and industrial energy management, VEIC has helped Hawaiʻi Energy identify and implement the unique solutions to meet the challenge of the moment.
Testing Approaches to Find What Works
In one clean energy pilot program, VEIC is working with Hawai'i Energy and Shifted Energy to connect residential heat pump water heaters to the larger electricity grid with software that responds to specific grid signals. The software ensures that hot water is always available when it’s needed and that the water heaters don’t draw electricity during periods of peak demand. Additional programs are evaluating the potential of utilizing data from smart meters and deploying battery storage as a residential demand management tool. Testing a variety of approaches to flexible energy management allows Hawaiʻi Energy to allocate resources to the programs that produce the greatest benefit for customers and greater grid reliability and flexibility.
VEIC is also partnering with Hawai'i Energy to develop and evaluate programs that bring the benefits of energy management to larger commercial and industrial clients. Treasure hunts allow facilities as diverse as wastewater plants, hotels, and grocery stores to identify low and no-cost ways to reduce energy costs and consumption without compromising working conditions or output. Ongoing support for training and customer engagement ensures that these programs continue to deliver savings. Targeted incentive programs and technical support enable businesses to evaluate opportunities and shift their electricity use to non-peak periods with methods including battery storage, refrigeration audits, behavior modification, and innovative financing assistance.
Results that Make an Impact
Transforming an island state’s energy system from fossil fuels to renewables requires a portfolio of energy efficiency, flexible load control, and renewable energy generation. In the last three years alone, the partnership between VEIC and Hawai'i Energy delivered programs with estimated lifetime savings of 58.7MW. Looking ahead, this partnership will continue to be essential as Hawaiʻi Energy pursues efforts in grid interactive buildings and behavior change, and works to put federal funding to use accelerating program impacts and expanding access.
Who We Are and How We Help
VEIC provides services under a broad clean energy umbrella that includes energy efficiency, building decarbonization, transportation electrification, and clean and flexible grid solutions. We work with utilities, state energy offices, transit agencies, non-profits, businesses, and more to advance electrification and decarbonization efforts across the country. From decarbonization program planning and implementation to federal funding services, we help clients achieve their goals and make an impact.
Reach out today so the VEIC team can learn more about your building electrification and energy efficiency ideas.
