Supreme Court Ruling on PPA
We are disappointed in the Supreme Court ruling of May 10, 2019, that vacates the Public Utilities Commission’s (PUC) earlier decision and remands the matter to the PUC to carry out a contested case hearing on the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). On remand, the PUC is instructed to give explicit consideration to the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in determining whether to approve the PPA. This is unfortunate as we believe the PUC already considered GHG emissions when it previously approved the PPA, since the record contained evidence showing the Hu Honua project, when operating, would result in a net reduction of GHG emissions when compared to GHG emissions without the project. The Hu Honua project is intended to be a clean, renewable source of firm 24/7 baseload energy that can replace existing fossil fuel plants on Hawaii island. Unfortunately, this decision will delay bringing more renewable energy to Hawaii island and ultimately prolong the continued GHG emissions from fossil fuel plants. Hu Honua has already expended approximately $200 million, and construction on the plant is nearly complete. We will work with the Public Utilities Commission and Hawaiian Electric Company to fully address the issues identified by the Court on remand so that the Hu Honua project can provide clean, renewable energy as soon as possible.