Gov. Green signs executive order to expedite development of renewable energy in the state of Hawaiʻi

Hawaiʻi Gov. Josh Green, M.D., signed an executive order on Monday aimed at accelerating the state’s renewable energy development in response to federal uncertainty and concerns about grid stability. The order moves Hawaiʻi’s Renewable Portfolio Standards target from 2045 to 2035, alongside other key directives.

Developed with input from the Hawaiʻi State Energy Office and various energy stakeholders over the past year, the executive order outlines new policy objectives for the state, including:

• Accelerating renewable development for neighbor island communities to hit 100% Renewable Portfolio Standards from 2045 to 2035;
• Setting a statewide goal of 50,000 distributed renewable energy installations (such as rooftop solar and battery systems) by 2030; and
• Directing state departments to streamline and accelerate the permitting of renewable developments to reduce energy costs and project development timelines. 

In addition, the order calls upon the Hawaiʻi Public Utilities Commission and Hawaiian Electric Company for support in reducing redundancies and inefficiencies in energy permitting and to prioritize reduced energy costs and energy stability for Hawaiʻi’s people.  

“Hawaiʻi needs to take some drastic steps to reduce energy costs, which have continued to rise and have contributed to the high cost of living for our people,” Green said. “We know that high energy costs in Hawaiʻi are due to our reliance on burning oil for electricity and old infrastructure, which is really unacceptable. We can and must do more to get this under control.”

The governor’s action contrasts recent executive orders by the new federal administration. Since coming into office just over a week ago, President Donald Trump has signed five executive orders intending to bolster domestic oil and gas production, withdraw the US from the Paris Climate Agreement, promote energy development in Alaska, pause offshore wind development and onshore and offshore wind projects, revoke all pre-existing mandates directing agencies to advance environmental justice and terminate all offices dedicated to environmental justice.

Hawaiʻi’s governor doubled down on a diversified, renewable-centered approach to cut costs and emissions.

“[Gov. Green’s] executive order represents the start of real action to lower costs, support a stable energy system and reduce emissions,” said Chip Fletcher, the governor’s climate advisor and interim dean of the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. “Green is cutting the red tape to realize our shared energy goals, including the first-ever push to get neighbor island communities to energy independence a decade sooner.”

Green’s move garnered support from the executive director of the Hawaiʻi Solar Energy Association, Rocky Mould, who said its stakeholders are ready to “aggressively expand opportunities for rooftop solar and energy storage and unleash its power and promise for the clean/decarbonized grid of the future.”

Energy costs continue to rise in Hawaiʻi, which has the highest average residential energy rate of any state in the US. Currently, Hawaiʻi has enough solar to power about 549,489 homes, per Solar Energy Industries Association.

A copy of the executed executive order can be found here.