Hawaiian Electric is asking its customers on the Big Island to conserve electricity usage due to generation supply shortages that the utility blames on an “independent” power producer. The power producer being blamed happens to be an affiliate of the utility itself.
According to an email message sent to Hawaii Island electricity customers on March 25, Hawaiian Electric’s electricity supply problems on the Big Island are the result of “significant mechanical issues” at a power plant “operated by an independent power producer.”
From the message sent to Hawaiian Electric’s Big Island customers on April 25:
“… The island’s largest generator, operated by an independent power producer that sells electricity to Hawaiian Electric, has significant mechanical issues and is offline. The plant generates 60 megawatts or nearly one-third of the typical peak demand of 180 megawatts on the island.” (Emphasis provided.)
The plant referenced by Hawaiian Electric is the Hamakua Energy Partners (HEP) 60-megawatt oil-fired power plant located in Honokaa.
Since 2017, HEP has been owned and operated by a company called Pacific Current (pacificcurrenthawaii.com/project/hamakua/).
Pacific Current is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hawaiian Electric Industries (HEI) and is therefore an affiliate of Hawaiian Electric Co. since the utility is also wholly-owned by HEI (www.hei.com/company-profile/about-pacific-current/).
The failure of Hawaiian Electric’s message to customers to disclose its affiliate relationship with the owner of the HEP unfairly implies that power plants not owned by Hawaiian Electric are less reliable than those owned by the power company.
This is simply not the case.
In fact, prior to HEI taking ownership of HEP in 2017 (in other words, when HEP was a truly independently owned power plant), objective data shows that HEP was the most reliable power plant on the Big Island — more reliable in fact that any of the power plants owned by Hawaiian Electric.
Power plants are complex machines that sometimes break or need to be taken out of service for overhauls, regardless of who owns them. Whether or not HEI has been a good steward in maintaining HEP since assuming its ownership in 2017 is a different question. Since it is in their own best interest to maintain the plant, one must give HEI the benefit of any doubt in this regard.
What is not in question is the role that independent power producers are playing to provide clean and reliable electricity across the Hawaiian Islands. Given the uncertain financial future of Hawaiian Electric due to its potential liability in the devastating fires on Maui in August 2023, a healthy competitive market for new renewable energy power projects is vital if Hawaii is to meet its clean energy goals.
Hawaiian Electric, the Public Utilities Commission, and the state Legislature should be doing everything in their power to promote and embrace independent power producers. They certainly should not be blaming independent power producers for generation supply problems.
Hugh Baker is a Kailua-Kona based retired utility consultant with over 40 years of experience working in wholesale power markets across the United States.
