STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2934

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2474

S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Commerce and Consumer Protection and Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2474, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO RENEWABLE ENERGY,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Establish reliability standards and interconnection requirements of public electric utilities for renewable energy projects; and

(2) Require implementation of the Hawaii Electricity Reliability Administrator law.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Clean Power Alliance. Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc. and one individual. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs and the Public Utilities Commission.

Your Committees find that the State must move with intention and urgency to meet its ambitious renewable energy goals, bring relief to ratepayers, and reduce carbon emissions. Delays in the timely interconnection of renewable energy generation projects also delays the benefits associated with those projects being delivered to consumers and the progress of compliance with the State's renewable portfolio standards. Your Committees note that the Public Utilities Commission is already monitoring interconnection timelines and has prioritized this matter in its decision-making in several interrelated dockets. This measure will allow for the Public Utilities Commission to have more oversight into grid reliability standards and the interconnection process and provides for more transparency to further assist the State in its renewable electricity goals.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Making a conforming amendment to subsection 269-146(a), Hawaii Revised Statutes, to clarify that the Public Utilities Commission may require that any (rather than all) utilities, persons, businesses, or entities connecting to the Hawaii electric system shall pay a surcharge that shall be collected by Hawaii's electric utilities to provide necessary authority to determine the appropriate assessment and ensure that the burden of this surcharge does not fall to ratepayers; and

(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Commerce and Consumer Protection and Ways and Means that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2474, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2474, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Commerce and Consumer Protection and Ways and Means,

________________________________ DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair

________________________________ ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair