Congressman Case introduces bill to help make electricity more affordable for isolated communities

Hawaiʻi US Rep. Ed Case has introduced a bill to codify into law a federal program to expand energy resilience and reliability for some of the nation’s most vulnerable regions – isolated island, Native Hawaiian and Tribal communities.

Residents of these regions often face common and unique energy obstacles, including limited energy infrastructure, high costs of imported energy and vulnerability to natural disasters.

“In Hawai‘i, which ranks as the state with the most expensive power in the nation, residential electricity rates average 34 cents per kilowatt, far exceeding the national average by threefold,” Case said. “My bill will ensure continued federal support for Hawaiʻi’s effort to transition to clean, affordable energy sources in ways that address our unique challenges.”

These unique energy resilience challenges in Hawai‘i, along with remote and Tribal areas, are the focus of the US Department of Energy’s Energy Transitions Initiative Project program. Since its inception, this program has partnered with more than 25 Tribal, coastal, remote and island communities across the nation to help them secure reliable and affordable energy. Case has supported this program through his assignment on the House Appropriations Committee.

“Although the Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project program has helped Hawai‘i and many other communities many across our great nation, it has never been formally codified,” Case said. “My bill, the Energy Transitions Initiative Authorization Act, will ensure this program can continue the technical assistance offered to remote, island and Tribal communities that is unique and accommodating to their expertise and deep knowledge of local challenges and solutions.”

The Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project program provides customized technical and financial assistance to community projects aimed at accessing reliable and affordable power and increasing energy resilience. Specific community projects include solar power interconnection, analyzing wind energy potential, conducting wildfire preparedness, advancing weatherization retrofits and implementing microgrids and battery storage projects.

In Hawai‘i, the Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project program has provided technical assistance to the City and County of Honolulu to conduct microgrid location analyses for regional hybrid microgrids and map designs.

Because Hawai‘i is prone to severe weather conditions that have previously caused long-duration power outages, Hawai‘i has identified hybrid microgrids as one method to improve resilience. Microgrids are best suited to areas prone to prolonged outages during weather events, with clusters of customers and potential availability of renewable energy sources.

The product of this partnership was a map identifying potential locations given a set of criteria that stakeholders prioritized in the areas of criticality, vulnerability and societal impact.

To see the bill, click here.