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Lanai resorts plan on going off-grid

Hawaiian Electric revising its request for proposals for renewable energy for Lanai island

Billionaire Larry Ellison’s Pulama Lana’i intends to remove the Four Seasons Resort Lana’i and the Four Seasons Hotel Lanai at Koele, A Sensei Retreat, from the Hawaiian Electric grid, according to a filing with the state Public Utilities Commission on Tuesday.

The announcement was made in a revision of the request for proposal for renewable energy and battery storage for Lanai by the utility to the state PUC.

The request for proposal process was put on hold in January by the PUC and the utility following the announcement that Pulama Lana’i was interested in purchasing Lanai’s grid from Hawaiian Electric. The company owned by Oracle’s Ellison, who owns 98 percent of the island, said then that “our journey toward 100 percent sustainability now leads us to investigate the potential benefits of owning the grid.”

The company noted that it is “by far” Lanai’s largest customer and has “a vested interest in building a modernized grid that will speed Lanai’s progress toward being energy independent.” The goal was to have a phased-in plan to include more renewable energy and lower electricity bills.

“Exploratory talks with Pulama Lana’i are still ongoing,” said Hawaiian Electric Maui division spokeswoman Shayna Decker on Friday.

In a PUC filing Monday, Pulama Lana’i said that it was “in the middle of our due diligence period” and was requesting a 60 day extension for the proposal due date.

“In our continued efforts toward 100 percent sustainability, we began to investigate the potential benefits of owning the grid and commenced exploratory talks with Hawaiian Electric,” the company said in its filing. “We respectfully request an extension of 60 days while we further develop and refine our path forward.”

Decker said that the new request for proposals calls for developers to submit proposals by June 16. A final award would be made Aug. 11.

When announcing its interest in the grid in January, Pulama Lana’i said that its “initial transition phase” calls for creating microgrids with the Four Seasons Resort Lana’i at Manele and the Four Seasons Resort Lana’i at Ko’ele.

A microgrid is a local energy grid with the ability to disconnect from the traditional grid and operate autonomously, according to the U.S. Department of Energy website. The microgrid, which can be powered by renewable energy sources, such as solar energy, can break off and operate on its own using local energy generation in times of crisis, like storms or power outages or for other reasons.

With Pulama Lana’i’s announcement, Hawaiian Electric adjusted its request for proposal for Lanai, now seeking a minimum of 16,137 megawatt hours annually through a 10 megawatt photovoltaic project paired with a 9MW/36 mWh energy storage system, the PUC filing said.

The initial request for proposals sought renewable energy generation equivalent up to 9.5 MW of solar paired with 4-hour energy storage requirement on land owned by Pulama Lana’i, Decker said. Pulama Lana’i would continue to offer the 50 acres under the initial terms.

The project must be operational no later than Dec. 31, 2023, Decker said.

The new energy targets assume Lana’i Sustainability Research, a solar generation/battery system, and Manele Bay Combined Heat and Power facilities are no longer available to the grid, the PUC filing said. Decker said that Manele Bay Combined Heat and Power is not considered renewable and uses oil.

Even without the two power sources, there is enough generation to power the rest of Lanai, Decker said. The island’s peak energy use was around 6.1 MW in September. Currently, the utility’s Miki Basin Power Plant can provide 9.4 MW of generation.

Attempts to reach Pulama Lana’i by email were unsuccessful Friday.

* Lee Imada can be reached at leeimada@mauinews.com.

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