Hawaiian Electric Initiates Largest Clean Energy Procurement
Zacks Investment Research | Aug 28, 2019 02:14AM ET
Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc.’s (NYSE:HE) subsidiaries have undertaken the largest renewable energy-procurement effort. This initiative will enable the state to achieve its goal of using 100 % renewable energy by 2045 by stopping coal usage and reducing dependency on imported oils for power generation.
After getting approval from the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) the subsidiary companies have issued requests for proposals for renewable energy and grid services from local as well as global developers. The company aims to generate nearly 900 megawatts (MW) of new renewables or renewables paired with storage, which can generate about 2 million megawatt-hours annually.
The estimated targets of technologies equal to 594 MW of solar for O'ahu, 135 MW for Maui and up to 203 MW for Hawai'i Island, depending on the availability of renewable energy projects on that island.
Initiatives for Cleaner Environment
Hawaiian Electric is engaged in providing customers with affordable and reliable clean energy. The company aims to reliably integrate an estimated total of 165,000 private solar systems by 2030. Additionally, the company aims to add 360 MW of grid-scale solar and 157 MW of grid-scale wind.
As of Jun 30, 2019, an estimated 29% of single-family homes on the islands of O’ahu, Hawaii and Maui installed private rooftop solar systems. Approximately 17% of the company’s total customers have systems based on solar energy. We expect that the recent initiative will encourage customers to further move toward a cleaner environment.
Awareness for cleaner environment is propelling the industry toward renewable energy and lowering dependency on fossil fuel. Utilities and corporations are also shifting focus to renewables and other clean sources to generate electricity. Other than Hawaiian Electric, utility companies like WEC Energy Group, Inc (NYSE:WEC) , NiSource (NYSE:NI) and Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) are also focusing on renewable sources to add more clean methods of power generation in their portfolios.
Investments
The company continues to make systematic investments in utility infrastructure development projects. It primarily adds new generation facilities, replaces aging infrastructure as well as restores transmission and distribution assets. These initiatives will enable Hawaiian Electric to meet increasing utility demand from customers, besides improving reliability.
For 2019, the company plans to invest approximately $400 million in the utility. For 2020-2021 period, the investment plan remains in the range of $400-$500 million on an annual basis. Such investments are expected to drive the company’s growth.
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Hawaiian Electric has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see Zacks Investment Research
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