The lawsuit alleges that Hawaiian Electric failed to properly maintain its system and failed to shut off the power despite a red flag warning issued by the National Weather Service. Additional reports claim bare wire and leaning poles were to blame for the fire.

In a statement, CEO of Hawaiian Electric, Shelee Kimura acknowledged that there are “important lessons to be learned” from the tragic event, and urged the public to embrace the Hawaiian spirit of “collective strength and unity of our community.”

The utility believes its equipment was not at fault for starting the fire and laid out the timeline below:

1. A fire at 6:30 a.m. (the Morning Fire) appears to have been caused by power lines that fell in high winds.
   
2. The Maui County Fire Department responded to this fire, reported it was “100% contained,” left the scene and later declared it had been “extinguished.”
   
3. At about 3 p.m., a time when all of Hawaiian Electric’s power lines in West Maui had been de-energized for more than six hours, a second fire (the Afternoon Fire) began in the same area.
   
4. The cause of the devastating Afternoon Fire has not been determined.

“We were surprised and disappointed that the County of Maui rushed to court even before completing its own investigation,” Kimura said. “We believe the complaint is factually and legally irresponsible. It is inconsistent with the path that we believe we should pursue as a resilient community committed and accountable to each other as well as to Hawaiʻi’s future.”

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Utility says Maui is at fault for the fires

Kimura said the utility is “ready to work” with the communities impacted by the fires but cautioned that “the county’s lawsuit may leave us no choice in the legal system but to show its responsibility for what happened that day.”

Outlined below are additional details offered in the statement from Hawaiian Electric:

The records conclusively establish that Hawaiian Electric power lines to Lahaina were not energised when the Afternoon Fire broke out shortly before 3pm on August 8, in a field near Lahaina Intermediate School. Power had been out for more than six hours by that time. There was no electricity flowing through the wires in the area or anywhere else on the West Maui coast. Hawaiian Electric has informed ATF investigators of the availability of records that demonstrate these facts.

The small Morning Fire, seen in videos taken by local residents, began more than eight hours earlier. Those videos show that power lines had fallen to the ground in high winds near the intersection of Lahainaluna Road and Hoʻokahua Street at approximately 6.30am. A small fire that can be seen by the downed lines spread into the field across the street from the Intermediate School.

The Maui County Fire Department responded promptly to the Morning Fire. According to the Department’s public statement that morning, by 9am the Morning Fire was “100% contained.” The Maui County fire chief subsequently reported that the Fire Department had determined that the Morning Fire was “extinguished,” and the Fire Department left the scene by 2pm.

Once the fire was out, Hawaiian Electric emergency crews arrived at Lahainaluna Road in the afternoon of August 8 to make repairs; they saw no fire or smoke or embers. All lines to Lahaina remained de-energised and all power in the area remained off.

Shortly before 3pm, while the power remained off, crew members saw a small fire about 75 yards away from Lahainaluna Road in the field near the Intermediate School. They immediately called 911 and reported that fire.

By the time the Maui County Fire Department arrived back on the scene, it was not able to contain the Afternoon Fire and it spread out of control toward Lahaina.

“The county’s lawsuit distracts from the important work that needs to be done for the people of Lahaina and Maui,” said Scott Seu, president and CEO of HEI. “Since the devastating fire in Lahaina, Hawaiian Electric’s focus has been supporting all of those who have been impacted and helping Maui recover. HEI stands with Hawaiian Electric and the community in rebuilding Lahaina and empowering a thriving future for Maui and the other islands we serve.”

Originally published on Power Grid.

According to S&P Global, the utility’s shares plunged as much as 42% at the start of the week under the threat of a class-action lawsuit in the wake of the wildfires on Maui, which claimed the lives of over 100 people to date and widespread destruction across the island.

According to S&P, attorneys from three firms in California and Hawaii filed a complaint with the Oahu District Court alleging that Hawaiian Electric equipment “foreseeably ignited the fastmoving, deadly, and destructive Lahaina Fire.”

S&P notes that the complaint suggests that the utility should have de-energised power lines after the National Weather Service issued a red flag warning and “knew that their electrical infrastructure was inadequate, ageing, and/or vulnerable to foreseeable and known weather conditions.”

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Reportedly, states the Washington Post, power lines are the likely cause of the fire. Namely, an electrical malfunction was directly correlated with data of a Hawaiian Electric power system problem, adding evidence that the state’s main utility equipment sparked multiple fires.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the utility, which is the parent company of Maui Electric Company and serves 95% of Hawaii’s 1.4 million residents, is speaking with restructuring advisory firms to address financial and legal challenges over its potential liabilities.

S&P Global Ratings has downgraded the utility to BB-, otherwise known as junk status, warning investors that the utility is a risky bet, due to the high risk of default.

After the wildfires broke out last week, the Hawaiian utility warned of extended outages, which affected over 12,400 customers.

As of Wednesday, restoration has still been underway on transmission lines, with approximately 2,000 customers remaining without electricity in West Maui.

According to Hawaiian Electric, crews are currently working to install a second mobile substation to support restoration efforts and more than 100 utility poles will be needed. A shipment is expected to arrive from Oahu covering the utility pole requirements as well as supplying fencing and other equipment.

According to the National Interagency Fire Centre, 68,988 wildfires burned more than 7.5 million acres of US land last year.

The lawsuit against Hawaiian Electric is the latest case of a utility being associated with a wildfire. In the past years, lawsuits have been filed against PacifiCorp and PG&E.

The company said on Thursday that approximately 12,400 customers in West Maui have been without power due to the effects of the wildfires and high winds on the grid system.

Although restoration efforts have been in place alongside firefighting efforts, such as repairing and replacing downed poles, more damage assessments and efforts will be needed as the fires’ toll continues to rise.

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“Our main focus is maintaining the safety of our communities, customers and workforce and prioritising power restoration to areas that our crews can safely access at this time,” said Shayna Decker, Hawaiian Electric spokesperson.

“We recognise the gravity and hardship of having prolonged outages during these challenging times and we are starting damage assessments to determine restorations in West Maui areas as they become safe and accessible.”

Additional crews and resources from Oahu, Hawaii Island and Lanai have been deployed to assist with response efforts, and the company’s incident management team is coordinating with Hawaii’s Emergency Management Agency and other emergency response organisations.

As of Thursday, 55 fatalities have been confirmed from the fire.

Hawaiian Electric’s extended outages warning came as US President Joe Biden approved a Hawaiian Disaster Declaration, making federal funding available to affected individuals.

Hawaiian Electric is the parent company of Maui Electric Company and serves 95% of Hawaii’s 1.4 million residents on the islands of Maui, Oahu, Hawaii, Lanai and Molokai.

The reduction includes generation owned by Hawaiian Electric and independent power producers who sell electricity to the utility.

The utility has also committed to achieving net zero or net negative carbon emissions from power generation by 2045 or sooner, meaning that if there are any emissions, they will be captured or offset.

Cutting emissions from power generation by 70%, compared with 2005 levels, would provide a significant portion of the reduction the entire Hawaii economy needs to meet the US target of cutting carbon emissions by at least 50% economywide by 2030.

“Hawaiian Electric has a critical role in reducing carbon emissions this decade in Hawaii, especially in transportation, so this new goal is significant,” said Gov. David Ige, who is attending the COP26 climate conference.

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“The COP26 meetings made absolutely clear that even though Hawaii has done a lot, we have to do even more. Working together, Hawaii can do its part to hit these targets. We are not willing to wait for the rest of the planet to do what we know is in our community’s best interest.”

Led by the 70% emission reduction in the electricity sector, the rest of the state economy – including transportation, agriculture, construction and industry – would still have to cut emissions by at least 40% by 2030 to stay on the path to meet the U.S. target.

Hawaiian Electric’s forecast for the next nine years anticipates a steady increase in renewables, replacing fossil fuels currently in use.

Key elements of the 2030 plan include:

• Shutting down the state’s last coal plant in 2022
• Adding nearly 50,000 rooftop solar systems
• Retiring at least 6 fossil-fueled generating units and significantly reducing the use of others as new renewable resources come online
• Adding renewable energy projects capable of generating a total of at least 1GW, including shared solar (community-based renewable energy)
• Using more grid-scale and customer-owned energy storage
• Expanding geothermal resources
• Creating innovative programmes that provide customers incentives for using clean, lower-cost energy at certain times of the day and using less fossil-fueled energy at night
• By 2030, renewable resources will provide close to 100% of the electricity generated on Hawaii Island and in Maui County.

Achieving a 70% reduction in carbon emissions is challenging in Hawaii, which has fewer generation options than utilities that use nuclear, natural gas and large-scale hydropower, according to Hawaiian Electric.

Furthermore, importing power from neighbouring states is a challenge.

Ulalia Woodside, executive director of The Nature Conservancy, Hawaii and Palmyra chapter, said: “It is absolutely right that Hawaiian Electric is looking at alternative energy sources. These efforts should be contemplated with strong and robust community input and consent, informed by the best science, and done in a way that preserves native habitats and species.”

OATI will expand the provision of grid reliability services from demand-side resources to Hawaiian Electric. The Grid Services Programme in Hawaii links the utility, grid service suppliers and end customers to ensure the reliability of the energy network.

The project uses members of OATI’s Energy Alliance for access to Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) from solar PV battery energy storage systems, and traditional demand response resources such as water heaters with smart controls. OATI and its Energy Alliance members will work cooperatively with Hawaiian Electric to subscribe customers to this programme who will receive incentives from Hawaiian Electric for their participation.

OATI’s cloud-based system will be used to manage the delivery of the grid services from DER-based virtual power plants (VPPs) to assure even greater reliability on Hawaiian Electric’s island grids and savings to Hawaiian Electric customers. The platform supports the delivery of fast frequency response, and scheduled load-shifting through capacity build, and capacity reduction grid services to Hawaiian Electric to ease the integration of renewable energy.

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Sasan Mokhtari, president and CEO of OATI, said: “We would like to thank Hawaiian Electric for extending our partnership on a paradigm-shifting project.

“Through this agreement, Hawaiian Electric demonstrates its commitment to renewable resources and the multiple benefits they can provide to the grid.”

Yoh Kawanami, co-director of customer energy resources at Hawaiian Electric, adds: “Our islands have small, stand-alone grids with the highest levels of renewable generation in the nation, which makes them sensitive to supply and demand imbalances.

“This project is another important opportunity for Hawaiian Electric and OATI to continue to develop an innovative portfolio of customer-sited resources that meet a variety of grid requirements, while providing additional choices and benefits for our customers.”

Hawaiian Electric serves 95% of the state’s 1.4 million residents on Oahu, Maui, Hawaii Island, Lanai and Molokai.

In 2020, close to 35% of the energy used by Hawaiian Electric customers came from a diverse mix of renewable sources including waste-to-energy, biomass, geothermal, hydro, wind, biofuels and solar, both utility-scale and customer-sited rooftop systems.

DISTRIBUTECH 2020 brought together the leading minds in the North American (and global) energy industry as the energy transition, grid resilience and the transition to energy storage and e-mobility came under the spotlight.

We’ve put together the leading industry intelligence, insights and thought leadership content, to bring you the best and latest in the US power industry, and the big predictions for the year and decade ahead.

Julia Hamm, President & CEO of Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) (above) chats about their four priorities for 2020 and the shared vision of a cleaner, modern grid, and the US’ transition to a carbon-free future by 2050.

Utility business models, regulatory innovation, grid integration and the electrification of transport are the four key drivers for SEPA – and the organisation sees utilities as essential to achieving the fastest, most-efficient transition to a clean energy, zero-carbon future. Find out how.

Gain insights into how consumer engagement with energy has shifted, the urgent need for customer education, and delivering new value for customer service.

Learn more about the association’s work in helping regulators give access and value to grid-based storage across the US, the massive growth in the sector forecast for 2020, and the rise of residential solar in 2019.

More than half of Hawaii’s capacity is expected to be sourced from customer-sited, dispatchable renewable generation assets, which promises improved grid support services, but Hawaiian Electric is also facing expected growth in load demand thanks to the electrification of transport in the state. See how a leading utility in the energy transition is preparing for a renewables-powered, decarbonised future.

Get insight into the importance, but elusiveness of grid interoperability as the grid becomes ever-more sophisticated, to allow competition, innovation and adaptability to take root in the modern US energy market. With DLMS/COSEM gaining ANSI approval, the road to a modern, efficient, sustainable US power grid is in reach.

Dadon touches on Itron’s approach to an electrified transport future and Itron’s Resiliency Challenge – where true resilience in the face of environmental disasters means more than just a stable power grid.

Reza shares highlights from the show floor like fault location, isolation and restoration, new technology streams, and industry trends towards artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and virtual reality (VR).

Rich Barone, Director of Customer Resources & Markets at Hawaiian Electric chats to Clarion Energy at this year’s DISTRIBUTECH 2020 about the unique challenges the utility has faced and overcome in developing a client-sited, dispatchable resource value model in the face of the state’s ambitious goal to transition to 100% renewable energy by 2045.

More than half of the state’s capacity is expected to be sourced from customer-sited, dispatchable renewable generation assets, which promises improved grid support services, but Hawaiian Electric is also facing expected growth in load demand thanks to the electrification of transport in the state.

See how a leading utility in the energy transition is preparing for a renewables-powered, decarbonised future.

Shifted Energy has signed an agreement with Hawaiian Electric Company as part of the Grid Services Purchase Agreement led by Open Access Technology International, Inc. (OATI).

• Read more about virtual power plants
• Read more about Hawaiian Electric

The 2,400 GIWH systems will be installed across Oahu and Maui, with a specific focus on hard-to-reach customers including low- and moderate-income, apartment dwellers, and renter communities. Under a five-year contract beginning in 2020, the combined GIWH systems will function as a 2.5MW virtual power plant (VPP), making it one of the largest competitively procured GIWH deployments in the world.

The units will respond in aggregate to signals from Hawaiian Electric to deliver key ancillary services such as fast frequency response, grid capacity increase and decrease – providing valuable services to the grid that will reward participants while enabling greater use of renewable energy.

Grid services programme benefits customers and the grid

The Hawaiian Electric project is an example of networked residential water heaters simultaneously providing convenience to users and services to the grid – with participating customers receiving compensation. Hawaiian Electric provides electric bill credits to customers participating in the Grid Services program in return for making the thermal energy stored in their grid-interactive water heaters available to Shifted Energy to create the virtual power plant.

The technology can rapidly and efficiently retrofit any existing electric water heater into a GIWH device to deliver grid services at a fraction of the cost of other storage technologies. Networks of GIWH devices, which function like batteries to provide flexible load, can help utilities overcome the challenge of balancing generation with customer demand, as well as support renewable energy integration.

Retrofitting an off-tank controller can be undertaken in less than 20 minutes and requires no plumbing modifications or tank-connected sensors. Its cellular communications platform with integrated cybersecurity enables real-time monitoring, control and verification; negates any reliance on customer internet or communications; and increases asset uptime and reliability. The company’s machine learning algorithms maximize available grid service capacity from each water heater while minimizing adverse impacts on a customer’s access to hot water.

“Electric water heaters — especially residential systems – offer an invaluable collection of thermal storage resources that can be a key contributor to load flexibility,” said Richard Barone, Hawaiian Electric director of demand response.

“OATI’s partnership with Shifted Energy, a Hawai‘i-based company, is an important step in helping Hawaiian Electric realize this potential while providing value directly to customers.”

“This landmark procurement validates the incredible potential of electric water heaters as valuable distributed energy resources that can support the utility and grid while simultaneously engaging and empowering hard-to-reach residents in Hawaii’s renewable energy future,” said Forest Frizzell, Shifted Energy CEO.

“As one of the largest grid-interactive water heater-based virtual power plants in the world, this project will showcase our technology’s scalability, flexibility and value to both customers and utilities.” 

“We are excited to have Shifted Energy join the OATI Energy Alliance and provide real-time aggregation of behind-the-meter water heater assets,” said Dr Sasan Mokhtari, OATI president and CEO.

“With Shifted Energy’s water heaters, all Hawaiian consumers can interactively power the distribution-centric grid of the future with a Grid Services Program that benefits everyone.”

The RFPs are now open. Bidders must submit proposals via Power Advocate, an electronic procurement platform.

Deadline: 5 November 2019, 2:00 pm Hawaii Standard time (HST). (Company Self-Build bids must be received through PowerAdvocate by Monday, November 4, 2019, 2:00 pm HST.)

For full details and documentation, please visit the Hawaiian Electric Company website here.

We publish a fresh tender regularly. Find other tenders published to date here.

Subscribe to tenders service

For more details on this tender and the RFPs below, you can subscribe to our Tender Subscription Service.

By partnering with a global information provider, we can offer a database of opportunities for the electric, gas and water meter markets as well as smart grid.

An annual subscription gives access to tender notices in every major metering and smart grid market in the world.

These negotiations are expected to produce long-term contracts for approximately 260MW of solar energy on Oahu, Maui and Hawaii islands.

Each solar project will be connected to a storage system that will capture up to four hours of electricity that can further reduce fossil fuel use in the evening or other times when the sun isn’t shining.

“These large-scale solar and battery projects will accelerate our renewable energy drive at some of the lowest prices we’ve seen to date,” said Shelee Kimura, Hawaiian Electric senior vice president of business development and strategic planning.

“With support from our communities, these projects will reduce our reliance on fossil fuel and cut greenhouse gas emissions while benefitting all with low-cost renewable energy.”

Hawaiian Electric, Maui Electric and Hawaii Electric Light are already operating more than 500MW of renewable energy under contract in addition to nearly 80,000 private rooftop systems in operation. The cost of renewable energy continues to drop, aided by tax credits available to developers.

These projects, if approved by the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), will help displace another 1.2 million barrels of fossil fuel per year.

These seven projects result from an ambitious, expedited procurement effort that the companies began in February to expand their renewable energy portfolios.

Working with the PUC, the companies increased their original procurement scope for Hawaii Island from the equivalent 20MW to 60MW, expedited project selection and increased the total number of projects anticipated in this phase of the procurement across all three islands.

The seven projects include:

• On Oahu, three projects totaling approximately 120MW and 515 megawatt-hours of storage
• On Maui, two projects totaling approximately 75MW and 300 megawatt-hours of storage
• On Hawaii Island, two projects totaling approximately 60MW and 240 megawatt-hours of storage

While developers already include outreach as part of their plans and actively engage with the community, the Hawaiian Electric Companies have now specifically made community outreach a formal part of the procurement process and require all of those who seek to build a project to engage early on with residents in the communities where their projects will be sited.

Developers will begin community outreach activities in the coming weeks. Community members will have the opportunity to comment on the proposed projects and Hawaiian Electric will file the comments with the PUC as part of the regulatory approval process.

Hawaiian Electric and its subsidiaries Maui Electric and Hawaii Electric Light are the investor-owned public utilities serving Oahu, Hawaii Island, Maui, Molokai, and Lanai.

The utilities achieved a 27% renewable portfolio standard in 2017 and have a goal of 100% renewable energy by 2045. On Oahu, for example, a third of single-family homes have private rooftop solar. As part of an overall grid modernisation strategy, the Hawaiian Electric Companies seek to select and install a new ADMS.

“This new system will help us support our renewable energy goals through more efficient use of grid assets and new customer participation programs,” said Ron Cox, Hawaiian Electric senior vice president of operations. “In addition, it will enhance grid reliability, resilience and safety by giving our grid operators more modern tools in the control room.”

GridBright specialises in grid management solutions for utilities, renewable developers, and researchers. It currently serves over 40 clients in the utility industry, including California Wind Energy Association, Consolidated Edison of New York, Eversource Energy, and the US Department of Energy.

GridBright will help the Hawaiian Electric Companies identify their future requirements for managing their electric grid with increasing levels of renewables, Distributed Energy Resources (DERs), Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), and Distributed Automation (DA).

GridBright will then assist the Hawaiian Electric Companies with a competitive Request-for-Proposal (RFP) process with leading vendors to evaluate and select an ADMS solution provider.

“The Hawaiian Electric Companies are on the leading edge of utilities seeking to modernise their grid management systems to prepare for a higher penetration of renewables and DERs,” said Ali Vojdani, CEO of GridBright. “We are honored that they have selected GridBright to help them in this journey.”

Please note, this is for general purposes only, and interested prime contractors not already pre-qualified with the owner may want to seek pre-qualification for this and other projects.

Deadline to submit proposals: 12 December 2018

Address: 1001 Bishop Street, 1st Floor Lobby, Honolulu, HI, 96813

Telephone number: 808-548-7311

Subscribe to tenders service

For more details on this tender and the RFPs below, you can subscribe to our Tender Subscription Service.

By partnering with a global information provider, we can offer a database of opportunities for the electric, gas and water meter markets as well as smart grid.

An annual subscription gives access to tender notices in every major metering and smart grid market in the world.

“We know that we have hundreds of poles and associated equipment that has been damaged or destroyed by lava activity,” said Rhea Lee-Moku, manager, administration for HELCO.

“We have also lost a switching station that was covered by lava. We are unable to complete a full assessment of damage until the eruption stops and the areas are safe for entry.”

Once lava flow ceases, HELCO plans to use a diesel generator to create a small microgrid that would serve Vacationland Hawai‘i and Kapoho Beach Lots areas.

According to Lee-Moku, in order to create the microgrid, HELCO must secure land rights, prepare the site, as well as obtain and fuel a generator.

“We’ve evaluated solar plus storage and this option is a potential longer-term solution for these communities,” she said.

Kilauea began erupting on May 3 and is continuing to wreak havoc on the island by isolating communities from the grid.

“There is only one power line serving some of these remote communities and if this radial feed is lost, we lose the ability to provide power to those communities,” she said.

According to Lee, the Puna Geotherma Venture (PGV) plant that provides about 25% of HELCO’s power shut down when the eruptions began, and hasn’t produced power since then.

“Since PGV stopped generating power, we have relied on other generating units to provide the island’s electricity. Hawaii Island has a diverse portfolio of generation including fossil fueled generation, solar, wind, and hydropower,” she said.

The state is looking to legislate microgrid installation to ease the process and make it more cost effective for home owners. The bill aims to increase grid resiliency, safety and security and ease renewable connectivity.

The pilot project is the first commercial use of Amber Kinetics’ advanced technology in the US.

Hawaiian Electric and Amber Kinetics are testing the 8 kW / 32 kWh storage system for local grid reliability and support and aid in the integration of renewable energy.

One 8 kW unit can power approximately 25 homes for one hour. Technical field data is being collected and is expected to guide planning for future utility-owned energy storage projects in Hawaii.

Communications and controls Amber Kinetics is developing in collaboration with Hawaiian Electric will be tested in a real-world setting and scaled to other jurisdictions.

The five-ton flywheel stores electricity as rotational kinetic energy and is capable of charging and discharging for multiple duty cycles per day with no loss of capacity.

The environmentally friendly system is 98% steel that can be fully recycled at the end of its 30-year design life. It was installed by American Electric, a Hawaii-based company, at Hawaiian Electric’s Campbell Industrial Park generating station on Oahu.

“Hawaiian Electric is eager to test the grid stabilising and renewable energy storing of the flywheel,” noted Colton Ching, Hawaiian Electric senior vice president for planning and technology.

“Our evaluation of this very promising energy storage system will help us determine how we can use flywheels to help integrate renewables at a lower cost while improving reliability and resiliency of the grid.”

Ed Chiao, co-founder and CEO of Amber Kinetics, said, “We are very pleased to be working with Hawaiian Electric. Our cost-effective technology has the potential to increase the Hawaiian Electric grid’s renewable energy capacity – an important goal shared by the State of Hawaii, Hawaiian Electric, Elemental Excelerator and Amber Kinetics.”

In addition to Hawaiian Electric, Amber Kinetics is currently working with clients on four continents.

Elemental Excelerator, a growth accelerator and catalyst for the deployment and scale of new technologies, chose Amber Kinetics to be part of its portfolio because of high levels of solar and wind on Hawaii’s electrical grid.

“If you are an energy storage company, Hawaii is probably one of your early markets. Solar plus storage is already at grid parity,” said Dawn Lippert, CEO of Elemental Excelerator. “Amber Kinetics is one example of how companies are leveraging the economics of energy storage in Hawaii to deploy their technology for the first time in a commercial setting.”

Amber Kinetics’ products offer substantial benefits for a wide range of utility and commercial applications. The firm’s breakthrough technology is the first to extend the duration and efficiency of flywheels from minutes to hours, resulting in safe, economical and reliable energy storage for a variety of utility-scale applications, including load shifting, peak shaving, frequency regulation, renewable firming and spinning reserve.

The system is scalable and designed to allow for increased size through the addition of multiple flywheels.

The project afforded all who worked on it the opportunity to advance energy storage knowledge and experience. “Participating in this project has been an exciting opportunity to be part of the cutting-edge technology that is essential to Hawaii’s energy future,” added Cameron Pickle, project manager for American Electric Co., LLC, the electrical power systems contractor for the project.