Kauaʻi Island Utility Co-op honored for excellence, innovation in energy

Kauaʻi Island Utility Cooperative, the electric utility company serving the Kauaʻi community, was recently honored for its excellence and innovation in energy, reflecting the highest standards of the profession.

The Association of Energy Engineers — Western U.S. Region presented Kauaʻi Island Utility Co-op with the Award for Institutional Energy Management during the Association of Energy Engineers World Energy Conference & Expo last month in Nashville.

“[Kauaʻi Island Utility Cooperative] was nominated for this prestigious award by the [Association of Energy Engineers]-Hawaiʻi Chapter for their dedication and hard, innovative work to achieve the amazing goals that [Kauaʻi Island Utility Cooperative] has established; to provide an extremely high percentage of renewable energy to their customers from multiple energy projects installed on Kauaʻi Island,” said Russ Koehler, certified energy manager and president of the Association of Energy Engineers-Hawaiʻi Chapter.

The co-op led the state in renewable generation in 2023 for the fifth year in a row, achieving 57.9% renewable.

The high percentage of renewables contributed to Kauaʻi Island Utility Co-op recording the lowest residential electricity rates for all Hawaiian islands from May 2022 to July this year.

The Institutional Energy Management award was accepted by the co-op’s energy services supervisor Scott Sato, certified energy manager, who serves as vice president of the Kauaʻi group of the Association of Energy Engineers-Hawaiʻi Chapter.

Association of Energy Engineers is a nonprofit professional society with more than 17,000 members in 125-plus countries.

Its mission is to promote the scientific and educational interests of those engaged in the energy industry and to foster action for sustainable development.