Hawaiian Electric: Rebecca Dayhuff Matsushima
Director for Renewable Acquisition
“We will be doing procurements on a regular basis moving forward between now and 2045.”
Hawaiian Electric: Scott Seu
SVP for public affairs
“If you’re going to operate a business here in Hawaii for 20 years or so, you will be expected by the community to become a part of it, to be able to engage on an ongoing basis.”
Hawaiian Electric: Colton Ching
SVP for planning and technology
“Our electric supply plans are aggressive. They’re forward leading within the industry and there does not exist technology today at this moment in time that will meet all of our needs over the next 20 or 30 years.”
Hawaiian Electric: Alan Oshima
CEO
“Ninety-five percent of Hawaii’s electricity comes from our company.”
Visiting Hawaiian Electric
Unique Renewable Goals
Perhaps the highest of the high points of visiting Hawaiian Electric and Hawaii's Public Utilities Commission was when Commission chair Jay Griffin announced during the pre-hearing conference we attended that "the Mitnicks" of Public Utilities Fortnightly were sitting in, as welcome guests of the Commission. (One Mitnick had flown in from Washington, D.C., the other from Tokyo.) Or perhaps when we watched the moving Hawaiian blessing of the West Loch Solar Project of Hawaiian Electric and the U.S. Navy.
Federal Stimulus
Time to Bring Out the Secret Sauce Again?
Smartening the grid over the last decade-plus has been a great achievement. And one that we owe in large part to the stimulating effect of the ARRA.
What Hawaii Tells Us
Status Quo to Status Whoa
In the event of a catastrophic typhoon, so much of Hawaii's critical infrastructure is situated at sea level. The status quo is therefore risky to stick with.
At NARUC, Tom Edison's Birthday!
Speaking of upcoming conferences, NARUC’s Winter Meeting is right around the corner. Where would you possibly want to be in mid-February instead of Washington, D.C.? Where the conversations about consumers, cost of service, climate change and decarbonization, coal retirements, commissions, interconnections, community solar, capital rates, court reviews, etc. will all be as cool as the D.C. air and the atmosphere at the U.S. Capitol.
Gratis, Gratuit, Free
If you can get there, to Charlotte, by plane, or by car, or by bus, or by boat (which could be a real challenge), then you can get by the gate for zip, zero, zilch. Because if you’re with a state utility commission, state consumer advocate office, state legislature, state governor’s office, state energy office, or a state whatever, the fee to attend Electrification 2020 giga-conference is gratis, gratuit, free.
Nominate Public Power's Leaders!
My absolute favorite part of each year’s National Conference of the American Public Power Association is the general session when they give out the individual and utility excellence awards. This year, the awards session will fall on June 9, during the 2020 National Conference in Long Beach, California.
June 9 is a great day for APPA to do this. It’s actually when solar power got its start. On June 9, 1905, Albert Einstein’s Nobel Prize-winning breakthrough on the photoelectric effect was published in Annalen der Physik.