Kauaʻi Island Utility Cooperative achieved a 52.8% Renewable Portfolio Standard for 2025, second highest in the state behind Hawai‘i Island.
KIUC continues to be well ahead of the State of Hawaiʻi requirement of 40% renewable by 2030, and on track to meet the mandated 100% renewable by 2045, according to a news release from the cooperative.
The 52.8% for 2025 was reported to the Hawaiʻi Public Utilities Commission in the cooperative’s annual Renewable Portfolio Standard filing. The 2025 performance represents a slight increase over 2024, a growth driven primarily by stronger performance from the Mahipapa biomass facility.
Utility-scale solar contributed 24.5% of KIUC’s generation in 2023, with 14.3% generated from members’ rooftop systems. Other renewables contributing in 2025 were hydropower at 9% and biomass at 5%.
KIUC’s high percentage of renewable generation has helped to stabilize rates, with KIUC consistently posting the lowest, or among the lowest, rates in the state since May 2022.
“Our renewable energy is purchased under fixed-price power purchase agreements, which helps buffer our rates from the volatility of global oil pricing,” said KIUC’s President and Chief Executive Officer, David Bissell.
Five utility-scale solar projects placed into service since 2014 have been the main impetus for Kaua‘i’s renewable energy progress. KIUC’s Chief of Operations, Brad Rockwell, said the value of this renewable transition is most acutely felt when oil prices increase sharply, as has been the case for the past few months.
“Without those large solar projects, we estimate the average KIUC residential bill would have been $41 higher this month alone,” Rockwell said.
KIUC made history with the energy O‘ahu-based company AES in 2019 when they brought the Lāwa‘i Solar + Storage Project, which was the largest operational solar and energy storage system in the world at the time.
In 2021, in collaboration with the U.S. Navy, AES’ Kekaha Solar + Storage project, also known as the AES PMRF Project, was placed into service.
The Public Utilities Commission recently approved another power purchasing agreement for a second new solar-plus-storage project on Kauaʻi with the energy company AES.
KIUC’s Board of Directors has set a strategic goal of reaching 100% renewable by 2033; a full 12 years ahead of the State of Hawai‘i mandate. If two new renewable projects currently under development are brought into service as proposed, KIUC could approach 90% renewable by 2030.
More information about KIUC’s strategic goals is available on the cooperative’s website: www.kiuc.coop/strategic-plan.
