Bill Text: HI HB2020 | 2024 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating To Renewable Energy.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Passed) 2024-06-21 - Act 053, 06/20/2024 (Gov. Msg. No. 1153). [HB2020 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2024-HB2020-Introduced.html
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.B. NO. |
2020 |
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THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2024 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
relating to renewable energy.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
The legislature also finds that greenhouse gas emissions are not just the result of electricity generation, but also from transportation and aviation, which utilize fossil fuels. Electric vehicle targets additionally have been undermined by the fact that electric vehicles are charged by the grid, which is powered by seventy per cent fossil fuels. With the advancement of various technologies, there are now more renewable fuel options available to help facilitate the replacement of fossil fuels and mitigate carbon emissions, including those produced by transportation and aviation. These advancements include sustainable aviation fuels and hydrogen, which can help the State reach its renewable energy goals. However, with limited land, it is difficult to advance those policies. The legislature recognizes that the State has a role to play in continuing to support its renewable energy target.
The legislature further finds that section 171-95, Hawaii Revised Statutes, enables the department of land and natural resources to assist in the State's renewable electricity goals. However, the State's quest for renewables goes beyond electricity and the electric utility as utilizers of renewable energy.
Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to repeal the constraints of section 171-95, Hawaii Revised Statutes, and the narrow definition of "renewable energy producer", to allow renewable energy producers to sell to entities other than the electric utility, in furtherance of the State's renewable energy goals.
SECTION 2. Section 171-95, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (c) to read as follows:
"(c) For the purposes of this section,
"renewable energy producer" means:
(1) Any producer or developer of [electrical or
thermal] renewable energy as defined in §269-91 [produced by
wind, solar energy, hydropower, geothermal resources, landfill gas,
waste-to-energy, ocean thermal energy conversion, cold seawater, wave energy,
biomass, including municipal solid waste, biofuels or fuels derived from
organic sources, hydrogen fuels derived primarily from renewable energy, or
fuel cells where the fuel is derived primarily from renewable sources] that
sell [all of] the net power produced from the demised premises [to an
electric utility company regulated under chapter 269 or that sells all of the
thermal energy it produces to customers of district cooling systems; provided
that up to twenty-five per cent of the power produced by a renewable energy
producer and sold to the utility or to district cooling system customers may be
derived from fossil fuels]; or
(2) Any grower or producer of plant or
animal materials used primarily for the production of biofuels or other fuels;
provided that nothing herein is intended to prevent the waste product or
byproduct of the plant or animal material grown or produced for the production
of biofuel, biogas, hydrogen, or other fuels[, electrical energy, or
thermal energy,] from being used for other useful purposes."
SECTION 3. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.
SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
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INTRODUCED BY: |
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Report Title:
Renewable Energy; Renewable Energy Producer; Definition
Description:
Amends the definition of "renewable energy producer" in section 171-95, HRS, to allow renewable energy producers to sell to entities other than an electric utility company regulated under chapter 269, HRS.
The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.
