STAND. COM. REP. NO. 921

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 264

       H.D. 2

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Energy and Environment, to which was referred H.B. No. 264, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ENERGY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the Public Utilities Commission, by July 1, 2016, to establish a process of establishing integrated energy districts.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Renewable Energy Action Coalition of Hawaii, Hawaii Solar Energy Association, Hawaii Renewable Energy Alliance, and one individual.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Division of Consumer Advocacy and Public Utilities Commission.

     Your Committee finds that integrated energy districts, energy generation grids that allow for the collective generation and distribution of power from renewable sources, have increasingly become economically feasible for states and communities.  Integrated energy districts are a secure and reliable power source, create clean and renewable energy, earn revenue through the sale of excess energy, reduce grid congestion, and lessen the strain on the central grid.  Implementation of this measure will provide better assurance that the State achieves its renewable energy goals.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by inserting an effective date of upon approval.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Energy and Environment that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 264, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 264, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Energy and Environment,

________________________________

MIKE GABBARD, Chair