HONOLULU (KHON2) — The Public Utilities Commission approved a new Hawaiian Electric project on March 23, with the project looking to provide much-needed improvements to Oʻahu’s electrical grid.
Hawaiian Electric’s Waiau Repowering Project proposed to replace six outdated oil-fired steam units with new and more versatile simple-cycle combustion turbines, totaling 253 megawatts.
The company received the approval with some conditions, such as the new turbines must operate off of a minimum renewable fuel, eventually moving toward 100 percent renewable energy as time goes on.
Public Utilities Commission approves Hawaiian Electric Wildfire Mitigation Plan
The Public Utilities Commission’s final decision was to set a cost recovery cap for the project at $847 million. As it stands, Hawaiian Electric cannot charge more than $847 million total to customers to make up for the cost of the project, even if it exceeds the allowed amount…