The U.S. Department of Energy has selected Hawaiian Electric Co. to identify the best areas for developing microgrids on Oahu.
The project is one of 11 projects selected as part of the DOE's inagural Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project. During the project, which will last 12 to 18 months, HECO will have access to experts from the DOE, Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, and national labs.
Microgrids are connected to the main electric grid, but can be isolated during an outage.
Suitable areas for microgrids are places vulnerable to prolonged power outages during storms and weather events. They also have clusters of customers and renewable energy sources.
"We could identify areas where, OK, this part of Oahu, would be optimal for a microgrid. And then this map would be available to say, to developers who would be able to look at it and say, 'Hey, maybe I can go into this community and offer to help build a microgrid in this area," said Shannon Tangonan, manager for external corporate communications at HECO.
Kauai was also selected in the DOE's new program. Its project will explore alternative and autonomous mobility options to move away from fossil-fueld cars.
