Following the recent announcement that the Hawaiian Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has decided against a merger of NextEra Energy and the Hawaiian Electric Companies, the latter have decided to withdraw a number of applications. These include applications for: approval of an LNG contract with Fortis Hawaii Energy Inc.; plans to upgrade the Kahe power plant for natural gas usage; and a waiver from competitive bidding to upgrade the facility.
Due to the resources that these particular combined projects needed, one of the conditions of the LNG contract was the approval of the proposed merger with NextEra Energy. NextEra recently announced that it would no longer be pursuing the merger following the dismissal of the application without prejudice by PUC.
The Hawaiian Electric Vice President of Power Supply, Ron Cox, said: “We're committed to transitioning to 100% renewable energy in the most cost-effective way possible while ensuring reliable service. We'll continue to evaluate all options to modernise generation using a cleaner fuel to bring price stability and support adding renewable energy for our customers.”
Edited from various sources by David Rowlands