HEPF Presents Resilience Webinar with NREL and Hawaiian Electric Company

The Hawai‘i Energy Policy Forum held an interactive webinar for HEPF members and energy stakeholders on a map under design to identify locations for advanced microgrids on O‘ahu. Moderated by HEPF Chair, Mark Glick, the webinar featured presentations by data scientist, Katy Waechter, of NREL and Ken Aramaki, who directs transmission, distribution and interconnection planning at Hawaiian Electric Company, regarding initial designs of maps that identify suitable locations for renewable hybrid microgrids on Oahu.  Hybrid microgrids require use of utility-owned infrastructure and equipment, including poles and wires, to operate. Kurt Tsue of Hawaiian Electric also provided a preview of Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) community outreach efforts associated with the company’s Integrated Grid Planning process. While REZ planning would conceivably cover the wide range of locations preferable to communities for future utility-scale renewable energy power generation, these locations could also support future hybrid microgrid development by identifying locations for renewable generation necessary to operate the microgrid during power outages.   

The hybrid microgrid mapping project is a technical assistance project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy under the Energy Transition Initiative Partnership Program (ETIPP) which is coordinated by the Hawai‘i Natural Energy Institute (HNEI).  HNEI is the ETIPP regional partner for the Pacific Region.  Please go to https://www.energy.gov/eere/about-energy-transitions-initiative-partnership-project for more information on ETIPP and the five Pacific Region ETIPP Cohort 1 and 2 projects supported by HNEI.  

The presentation can be downloaded by clicking the image below: