Hawaii closed its last remaining coal-fired power plant on Thursday, a major milestone in the state’s ambitious effort to transition to 100% renewable energy by 2045.
The AES Hawaii power plant near Kalaeloa, southwest of Oahu, will provide more than 11 percent of the state’s electricity by 2021, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Governor David Ige, a Democrat, said in an interview with the Associated Press: “It’s really about reducing greenhouse gases. “And this coal facility is one of the largest emitters. Taking it offline means we will prevent 1.5 million tons of greenhouse gases from being emitted every year. “
Across the United States, coal plants are shutting down, squeezed out by cheaper natural gas, cleaner renewable energy and harsher emissions regulations. The whole country has less than 270 coal-fired power plants left; More than 600 people have retired in the past two decades.
Hawaii has been working towards an energy industry powered entirely by renewables by 2045, a goal that was enshrined in state law in 2015. The Legislature also passed laws Ambitious environmental measures by 2020 ban the use of coal for energy production starting in 2023. In recent years, the state has switch to solar energyincludes rooftop solar panels on nearly a third of the state’s single-family homes.
However, the transition to renewable energy has been complicated by the challenges of the pandemic and the global energy crisis.
Before this year, electricity prices in Hawaii were three times the US average, according to the US Energy Information Administrationpartly because the state relies heavily on fuel oil, much of which is imported from Russia, to generate electricity, as it is less expensive to transport than natural gas.
In the first months after Russia invaded Ukraine, the price of residential electricity increased by nearly 62% year-on-year, according to data from Hawaiian Electric Co.The state’s largest electricity supplier.
Now, the state’s last coal plant closure will increase customers’ electricity bills by 7% starting October, or about $15 for a typical customer using 500 kilowatt-hours per month. , follow a news bulletin from Hawaiian Electric. State Senator Glenn Wakai, a Democrat who currently chairs the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Tourism and Technology, criticized the decision to close the plant.
“We made a transition for which we were completely unprepared,” Mr. Wakai said. The short-term consequences, he added, would be “catastrophic” for the people of Oahu.
A combination of supply chain problems, delayed permits and other bureaucratic hurdles has slowed progress on renewable energy projects that could replace coal power in Oahu. Some of that could appear online as early as the first half of 2023, officials said. Meanwhile, energy suppliers will rely more on oil.
While there will be negative consequences in the short term, closing the coal plant will move the state toward resilience and energy independence in the long term, supporters of the decision said.
“Coal and oil are resources that we do not and will never produce much locally,” said State Representative Nicole E. Lowen, a Democrat who is chair of the Energy and Environment Committee. direction. “That leaves us at the mercy of global markets that are beyond our control.”
