![\"Liquified](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/LNG-ships-823x1024.jpg\")
Models of liquefied natural gas ships were exhibited in 2015 at the Asia Pacific Resilience Innovation Summits and Expo. (Cory Lum\/Civil Beat\/2015)<\/p>\n
\u201cThis proposal represents a transformative overhaul of our electrical grid and a tangible step to move Hawai\u02bbi off its historic dependence on oil,\u201d Green said in a statement. \u201cThrough this partnership with JERA and its partners, we are bringing billions of dollars in new energy investments to Hawai\u02bbi \u2014 securing more affordable, reliable energy for the people of our state.\u201d<\/p>\n
The announcement comes days after opponents of the liquefied natural gas initiative announced it dead.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On Thursday, at a hearing of the Hawai\u02bbi House Committee on Energy and the Environment, former University of Hawai\u02bbi professor Matthias Fripp said he had found a $1.2 billion error in a study in which the Hawai\u02bbi State Energy Office concluded that liquefied natural gas was \u201cthe most cost-effective transitional fuel to be used until carbon-emitting fossil fuels can be permanently eliminated by 2045.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fripp\u00a0said the study had failed to include the cost of the gas<\/a>, an assertion Hawai\u02bbi\u2019s Chief Energy Officer Mark Glick disputed.\u00a0Earthjustice, meanwhile, responded with a\u00a0press release<\/a>\u00a0with the headline \u201cBillion-Dollar Math Error Blows Up Green Administration\u2019s Fossil Gas Import Plan.\u201d<\/p>\n JERA\u2019s announcement suggests the plan hasn\u2019t quite blown up yet.<\/p>\n Erik Montague, vice president of development for JERA Americas, said the company had included the cost of gas in its plan, which the company said could reduce the cost of generating electricity on O\u02bbahu by 20% compared to the oil now used.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI can say unequivocally that the full cost of the fuel is included,\u201d Montague told Civil Beat. \u201cIt\u2019s a fundamental part of our analysis.\u201d<\/p>\n The war in Iran has underscored the volatility of fossil fuel prices, as Iran\u00a0has closed a key shipping lane<\/a> for oil and liquefied natural gas\u00a0from the Middle East. Rising global oil prices will likely be passed to consumers on their electric bills.<\/p>\n In the case of LNG, Montague said, prices are generally determined through one of two methods. One pegs the price to the global oil price, but at a lower price than oil. This makes LNG sensitive to global oil price shocks, although he said it\u2019s still cheaper than the oil now used in Hawai\u02bbi.\u00a0<\/p>\n The other method pegs the LNG price to U.S. natural gas prices, adding various costs for transportation and processing. This generally insulates the LNG price from global shocks, although it\u2019s still sensitive to U.S. price increases caused by factors such as cold winters that drive up demand on the continent.<\/p>\n Hawai\u02bbi could choose either method or a combination, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIn all cases,\u201d Montague said, \u201cnatural gas is delivered cheaper than oil.\u201d<\/p>\n HECO Power Plant May Be Delayed<\/p>\n The proposal comes as the Hawai\u02bbi Public Utilities Commission is on the cusp of approving Hawaiian Electric Co. Inc.\u2019s proposal to replace aging generators at its Waiau power plant with fuel flexible generators that could burn oil or bio-diesel fuel. The project would be the same size as JERA\u2019s.<\/p>\n HECO\u2019s new generators are expected to tack on $4.23 to the monthly electric bill of typical residential customers on O\u02bbahu when the power plant is finished in 2033. That would be on top of an $11 rate increase<\/a> Hawaiian Electric has requested, plus an additional new fee<\/a> to help cover wildfire mitigation work.<\/p>\n Glick has asked the PUC to delay approving the HECO project to give regulators more time to answer a series of criticisms Glick has lodged about the HECO power plant. In his request, Glick cited the JERA proposal and purported cost savings. HECO shot back accusing Glick of asking the PUC to short-circuit its approval process to benefit JERA. The company also said the two projects weren\u2019t mutually exclusive.<\/p>\n The PUC was supposed to make a decision on HECO\u2019s Waiau power plant upgrade last Friday. While state offices were closed due to bad weather that day, the agency still had not publicly posted an order by late Monday. PUC spokeswoman Deborah Kwan did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n JERA\u2019s proposal would still need to undergo vetting and approval by the PUC.<\/p>\n The company said it anticipates initiating required state and federal permitting processes in the coming months, including potential filings with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the City and County of Honolulu.<\/p>\n Civil Beat\u2019s coverage of climate change and the environment is supported by The Healy Foundation, the Marisla Fund of the Hawai\u2018i Community Foundation and the Frost Family Foundation.<\/p>\n Sign up for our FREE morning newsletter and face each day more informed.<\/p>\n Sign Up<\/p>\n \n Sorry. That’s an invalid e-mail.\n <\/p>\n \n Thanks! We’ll send you a confirmation e-mail shortly.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The announcement comes days after a renewable energy expert challenged findings of a state study finding LNG to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":530297,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":["post-530296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=530296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/530297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=530296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=530296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Civil](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1753322412_339_logo10.png\"){kind=logo}
<\/p>\n