In Hawaii, we have served as the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission’s Independent Observer on several competitive procurements over a number of years, including procurements for (a) renewable dispatchable energy, (b) energy storage, (c) grid services (capacity, fast frequency response) from customer-sited distributed energy resources, (d) battery energy storage (BESS) for use in a microgrid, and (e) firm renewable generation. In this role, we have assessed projects of all types, including (a) solar PV, (b) wind, (c) standalone BESS, (d) biofuels and biodiesel aeroderviatives and combustion turbines, (e) geothermal, (f) biomass, (g) hybrid projects (e.g., solar-plus-BESS), (h) demand-side resources, (i) virtual power plants, and (j) aggregations of customer-sited resources.
A recent RFP, addressing needs on O`ahu, solicited approximately 900 megawatts of new renewable generation, as well as 210 megawatts of grid services from customer-sited, distributed energy resources. One of the RFPs was a procurement of renewable energy and energy storage, one purpose of which was to replace the largest generator in the Hawaiian Islands, a 180 MW coal-fired plant owned by AES Corporation. As a result of the RFP, the AES plant, which recently retired, will be replaced by a 185 MW battery storage project to be developed by Plus Power, LLC.
The team
Partner
