James "Jay" Griffin ended his tenure as chair of the Public Utilities Commission on Friday, but he says there's plenty of work left to be done in Hawaiʻi.
Griffin hopes the next chair keeps up the momentum on the state's transition to renewable energy — particularly as fossil fuel plants on O‘ahu and Maui end operations in the coming years.
Griffin says O‘ahu will be in a less-than-ideal position to meet its energy demand when AES Hawaii's power plant at Campbell Industrial Park goes offline this September.
That plant alone provides anywhere from 15% to 20% of the island’s energy needs.
"It is the largest single plant providing energy to the island, and it's burning coal," Griffin said. "So it was also the lowest-cost source of energy, most of the time."
The long-term plan is to make up the coal plant's energy share through multiple renewable energy sources. But the renewable projects that are currently scheduled will only provide about half of the needed power.
"Some of these (renewable) projects have fallen out for a variety of reasons," Griffin told HPR. "We're going to burn oil in the meantime."
Griffin says that while we are on track, we are not as far along in the transition as we could have been.
"These transitions are challenging," Griffin said. "And that's what we're seeing increasingly throughout the U.S. now, as other older power plants are going offline."
A study from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, which assesses grid reliability in the U.S., determined that several regions in country could face energy shortages this summer.
This interview with Jay Griffin originally aired on The Conversation on June 29, 2022. You can listen to the full segment below.
The broadcast version of this story incorrectly stated that AES wasn't entirely clear with the Public Utilities Commission regarding delays in the transition plan for the retirement of the AES coal plant, referencing a status conference in front of the commission on March 16, 2021. The transition plan was submitted by Hawaiian Electric, not AES.
