Hawaiian Electric outlines targets, tougher community scoring and new pre‑bid meetings for IGP RFP

Hawaiian Electric told a Public Utilities Commission technical conference it is seeking 750 gigawatt‑hours and 350 megawatts of grid‑forming resources on Oahu, plus 81 megawatts of firm capacity on Oahu and 435 gigawatt‑hours with 60 megawatts of firm capacity on Hawaii Island as part of the Integrated Grid Plan request for proposals, with Maui targets left for later rounds. The company described the IGP RFP as a rolling procurement intended to run in multiple tranches until identified grid needs are met.

The utility said it reworked evaluation criteria to give more influence to non‑price factors. Historically priced elements counted for 60% of initial evaluations; the draft IGP RFP moves that to a 50/50 split and reduces the number of non‑price subcriteria while increasing weights on community engagement. For the first time the RFP separates a community benefits package from community engagement and uses a 1–10 scale for engagement scoring. Hawaiian Electric also agreed to publish detailed scoring rubrics to improve transparency.

To reduce interconnection surprises, the company proposed mandatory pre‑bid developer meetings during the proposal development period. Developers may request meetings covering up to nine project variations per island (three projects with three variations each). Meetings will include the independent observer and independent engineer and produce a written report for proposers. Hawaiian Electric said the aim is to help developers better estimate interconnection costs before bids are submitted.

The draft adds wildfire and structural resilience requirements, such as reserving space for future monitoring or weather stations and requiring design‑phase consultation with local fire agencies. Hawaiian Electric said it will also tighten guidebooks and modeling templates to standardize interconnection expectations.

On financing, the utility acknowledged developers’ concerns about higher costs tied to Hawaiian Electric’s non‑investment grade credit rating. The company said it is pursuing a range of measures including legislative language under consideration for the 2025 session that would allow the state to step into Hawaiian Electric’s role to collect customer revenues and pay independent power producers in an extreme default scenario. To avoid pricing proposals that assume such a legislative outcome, Hawaiian Electric plans to delay proposal due dates until after the legislative session so bidders can incorporate any enacted changes.

Hawaiian Electric proposed a February 2025 issue date for the IGP RFP and said selections could occur by March 2026, subject to commission feedback and filings. The company said it will file responses to commission information requests later in the week and anticipates continuing outreach and possible further technical sessions. The conference closed with the commission inviting additional docket filings and public comments.

The presentation and subsequent exchanges focused on implementation details — how pre‑bid meetings will be limited to manage staff resources, why some developer requests (such as reimbursing interconnection payments separately) were not adopted now, and how the rolling procurement design aims to reduce project attrition. The utility emphasized these are draft rules and indicated ongoing willingness to refine threshold and scoring language based on commission feedback.

Next steps: Hawaiian Electric will file IR responses, the commission will review filings and may ask for additional comment or schedule further technical conferences. No formal vote or approval was taken at the session.