On America’s most electricity-hungry island chain, Hawaiian Electric just launched its biggest “green power” push in a generation
Image generated with artificial intelligenceOʻahu runs on more electricity per capita than almost anywhere else in the United States — and demand is climbing faster than it has in twenty years. Electrification of cars, buses, and industrial systems is pushing the island’s isolated grid toward a reckoning that mainland utilities rarely face: there are no neighboring states to borrow power from when supply runs short.
Hawaiian Electric just filed one of the largest energy procurements in state history in response to that pressure — targeting nearly 1,650 gigawatt-hours of variable renewables and hundreds of megawatts of storage across Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi Island, and Maui. What fuels will keep the lights on during the transition remains an open question.
An island grid under pressure
Oʻahu isn’t a typical electricity market. Home to nearly one million residents, the island accounts for more than 70% of all electricity generated across the Hawaiian archipelago — a concentration of demand on a single, isolated grid that creates challenges mainland utilities simply don’t encounter.
If regulators agree to expand the scope of the competitive procurement, the Japan-based conglomerate’s LNG project could be considered alongside other bids.
The pressure is more acute right now because of the pace of change. Electricity demand is growing at its fastest rate in two decades. More EVs, more electric buses, more industrial processes switching off fossil fuels — all of it lands on the same grid, at the same time.
Oil still dominates that grid. Hawaiʻi is consistently one of the most expensive electricity markets in the country, and oil-fired generation is a primary reason why. Reducing that dependence isn’t just an environmental goal — it’s an economic one. The state has also set a legally binding target of 100% renewable electricity by 2045, which creates urgency and a clear direction even when the path involves difficult trade-offs.
What Hawaiian Electric is actually asking for
The Integrated Grid Planning RFP is the centerpiece of Hawaiian Electric’s response. The solicitation seeks nearly 1,650 GWh of variable renewable energy — primarily solar and wind — spread across Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi Island, and Maui.
That’s not all. The RFP also includes 465 MW of grid-forming resources, meaning solar generation paired with battery storage, plus 111 MW of firm generating capacity capable of producing power around the clock. Projects are targeted to come online between 2031 and 2034, an accelerated timeline by the standards of large-scale energy infrastructure.
Separately, Hawaiian Electric is seeking regulatory approval to expand firm generation procurement on Oʻahu by up to an additional 500 MW. The company framed this as a request for a “transparent, Commission-supervised forum” — one that evaluates firm generation needs without pre-determining the size or fuel type required.
The reliability puzzle: retiring old plants while keeping the lights on
Renewable energy goals and grid reliability don’t always move in the same direction. Solar and wind are variable — they produce power when the sun shines and the wind blows, not necessarily when demand peaks. That’s the core tension Hawaiian Electric is working to manage.
The plan addresses this by accelerating the retirement of aging oil-fired power plants while adding modern firm generation capable of producing electricity 24/7. The logic is straightforward: you can’t retire old plants safely unless dependable replacements are already in place.
To evaluate what those replacements should be, Hawaiian Electric plans to launch a request for proposals covering all fuel types — liquid and gaseous — by the end of 2026. That process will assess proposals on price, sourcing, and environmental impact within a competitive framework. CEO Scott Seu described the approach as one that must deliver efficiency, reliability, lower emissions, and least cost — all at once, not in sequence.
LNG enters the conversation — and the controversy
Liquefied natural gas has emerged as one possible answer to the firm generation question, bringing with it a notable dispute over process. Hawaiian Electric has acknowledged that LNG could be a beneficial option if it delivers value to customers — but insists any such pathway must go through the PUC’s transparent evaluation process.
That position is already being tested. An affiliate of a Japan-based energy conglomerate has announced plans to build what would be the largest power plant on Oʻahu, fueled by LNG, and notified the PUC that it intends to seek approval outside the standard competitive bidding structure.
Hawaiian Electric pushed back publicly. Seu stated that the company believes in “an open competitive process as opposed to a sole-source, multibillion-dollar contract without seeing what else is out there.” More options are welcome — just not through a process that bypasses competition.
What comes next for Hawaiʻi’s energy future
The RFP is now open to developers. The Public Utilities Commission is overseeing the process under docket number 2024-0258, and the competitive clock is running. The most consequential near-term decision, though, may belong to the PUC itself.
If regulators agree to expand the scope of the competitive procurement, the Japan-based conglomerate’s LNG project could be considered alongside other bids. If they don’t, the landscape shifts considerably. That single regulatory call will shape who competes, on what terms, and ultimately what gets built — and Hawaiian Electric has framed this procurement as one of the most significant energy decisions the state will make, not just for the next decade but for generations. The outcome will reveal whether Hawaiʻi can honor its 100% renewables mandate while keeping a rapidly electrifying economy reliably powered. The islands are watching. So is the rest of the country.
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Carlos is an engineer with strong expertise in technical and industrial topics. He previously worked at international companies such as Siemens and is multilingual.
