A recording of this webinar is available for public viewing (below)

In February 2019, ESA hosted a webinar on the applications and proposals for energy storage in Hawaii. The state offers a unique but informative view of islanded (literally) electricity grids managing increasingly high penetration of renewable energy to offset high costs of oil-generated electricity, meet environmental goals, and address a number of threats to grid resilience. Despite the Hawaiian islands’ unique position, Hawaiian power sector experiences offer a range of useful lessons for challenges the mainland grid will face in coming years. Energy storage is proving to be a critical part of the solutions Hawaii is applying, and it is set to play an even larger part as Hawaiian Electric Company proposed seven storage+solar projects this month which Greentech Media described as ‘Mind-Blowing’ – 1,048 MWh of storage and 262 MW of solar, at prices from 8-12¢/kWh.

In this webinar, participants will learn:

• How Hawaii has used, and is planning to use, storage technology to manage uniquely a high penetration of renewable generation assets and resilience challenges;
• How the state has driven grid modernization efforts, with an eye to state policy and utility planning for energy storage; and
• What’s next for the Hawaiian grid and new proposals for energy storage.

Speakers:

• Lorraine Akiba, President, LHA Ventures and former Hawaii Utility Commissioner
• Woody Rubin, President & Rob Cooper, Director of Business Development, AES Distributed Energy