STAND. COM. REP. NO. 539

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 1338

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs and Economic Development and Tourism, to which was referred S.B. No. 1338 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO LONG DURATION CLEAN ENERGY STORAGE,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Rename the Hawaii Renewable Hydrogen Program to the Hawaii Renewable Hydrogen and Long Duration Clean Energy Storage Program (Program);

(2) Amend the required activities of the Program, including conducting engineering and economic evaluations of potential locations for long duration clean energy storage and pumped storage hydroelectric projects; and

(3) Rename the Hydrogen Investment Special Fund to the Hydrogen and Long Duration Clean Energy Storage Investment Capital Special Fund.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism; Hawaii State Energy Office; Hawaii Center for Advanced Transportation Technologies; and Hawaiʻi Gas.

Your Committees find that hydrogen has the potential to be an integral component of Hawaii's energy system, noting the establishment of the Hawaii Renewable Hydrogen Program and the Hydrogen Investment Special Fund under existing law. Your Committees recognize that the ability to store locally produced clean energy can mitigate the supply disruptions that could result from extreme weather or other disruptive events and that the vast majority of utility-scale energy storage capacity in the United States is pumped storage hydroelectric capacity, due to its relatively low water consumption, capital cost, and land requirements. Your Committees note that the United States Department of Energy intends to make significant funding available to the states to support its Energy Storage Grand Challenge Roadmap, a federal program that has a goal of reducing the cost of long duration clean energy storage by ninety percent by 2031. This measure expands the scope of the Hawaii Renewable Hydrogen Program to make the State a competitive candidate for clean energy storage federal grants, thereby supporting the continued development and storage of resilient, sustainable, and locally produced clean energy in the State.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting an effective date of May 13, 2040, to encourage further discussion; 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 Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs and Economic Development and Tourism that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1338, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1338, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs and Economic Development and Tourism,

________________________________ LYNN DECOITE, Chair

________________________________ GLENN WAKAI, Chair