#Shelee Kimura

Guided by the theme “Lōkahi,” meaning unity and harmony, Hawaiian Electric employees, retirees and IBEW Local 1260 came together to raise more than $423,000 during a workplace campaign in 2024 to benefit Aloha United Way and Hawaiʻi Island United Way. The funds will support critical programs and services aimed at strengthening communities across the state.

Hawaiian Electric plans to deploy new technology, fortify infrastructure, minimize fire hazards and expand community partnerships to significantly reduce the risk of a wildfire started by its equipment, actions detailed in a new Wildfire Safety Strategy.

AES Hawaiʻi held a blessing ceremony on Friday to launch Kūihelani solar-plus-storage, Hawai‘i’s largest solar facility, which is producing electricity for Maui at 8-cents per kilowatt hour, the lowest renewable energy cost in the state. The facility produces 60 MW of renewable energy, enough to power 27,000 Maui homes.

During the first Congressional fact-finding hearing about the deadly Aug. 8 Lahaina fire, members of the US House Energy & Commerce subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations grilled Hawaiian Electric President and CEO Shelee Kimura about de-energizing power lines, wildfire mitigation efforts and replacing above ground lines connected to wood poles with buried lines.

The US House Committee on Energy & Commerce is holding a subcommittee fact-finding hearing on Thursday in Washington, D.C., to investigate the role of electric infrastructure in the “catastrophic Maui fire” in Lahaina on Aug. 8 that killed at least 97 people.

The US House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing later this month on the deadly Maui wildfires that claimed the lives of at least 115 people, with many still unaccounted for. The Aug. 8 tragedy that wiped out five square miles of homes and businesses in Lahaina is considered the deadliest fire in modern US history.

Hawaiian Electric Company President and CEO Shelee Kimura provided an update on the one month mark since wildfires devastated the Lahaina and Upcountry communities on Maui.

Three weeks after the devastation of Lahaina, crews are still working to recover and to strengthen defenses against windstorms and wildfires. With high winds and severe drought conditions continuing to threaten parts of Maui, the trio vowed to work together to minimize the risk of wildfire and ensure public safety.

The company outlined a list of factors related to the Aug. 8, 2023 events, saying that at around 3 p.m., “power lines in West Maui had been de-energized for more than six hours” when a second fire in the afternoon began in the same area—in a field near Lahaina Intermediate School.

A study commissioned by Hawaiian Electric highlights the need for significant technological advancements, particularly in sustainable fuels and carbon-capture, to achieve full decarbonization in Hawai‘i by 2045.

The 9th Annual Hawaii Energy Conference on May 10 and 12 will feature two keynote speakers: Abigail Anthony, Commissioner of the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission, and Amy Myers Jaffe, Research Professor and Managing Director of the Climate Policy Lab at the Fletcher School of Tufts University.

Hawaiian Electric’s 2021-22 corporate sustainability report, which details the company’s progress on renewable energy to reduce carbon emissions, now is available online.

Maui County’s renewable energy production was up in 2021. But the percentage of renewable energy used for total utility sales decreased slightly to 50.2% in 2021 compared to 50.8% in 2020. This decrease was due to electric sales rising by 9% with the return of tourists following the pandemic shutdown. 

Constance “Connie” Lau, president and CEO of Hawaiian Electric Industries, is retiring after 15 years as the leader of the parent company of electric utility Hawaiian Electric and community bank American Savings Bank.

Hawaiian Electric is seeking public input on its strategy to increase rooftop solar and similar customer energy resources to the scale needed to reach the state’s clean energy benchmarks.

Service disconnections of both residential and commercial customers will be suspended through at least April 17.

Hawaiian Electric Companies is hoping its new Customer Energy Resources department will more effectively serve customers with rooftop solar and other devices that can interact with the electric grid.

The Mayor’s Office of Economic Development, Maui County and Maui Economic Development Board will host the third annual Maui Energy Conference from March 16 to 18, 2016, at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center.