Hawaiian Electric Companies withdrew its application for the approval of its LNG supply deal with Fortis Hawaii Energy, following the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission’s dismissal of the company’s merger with NextEra.
In addition to the LNG supply deal, Hawaiian Electric withdrew its application with PUC for the upgrade Kahe Power Plant to use natural gas, and a waiver from competitive bidding to upgrade the plant, the company’s statement reads.
“Because of the resources these specific combined projects required, one condition of the LNG contract was approval of the proposed merger with NextEra Energy,” the statement reads.
However, NextEra Energy informed it will back out of the merger due to PUC’s dismissal of the merger.
Ron Cox , Hawaiian Electric vice president of power supply said, “we’ll continue to evaluate all options to modernize generation using a cleaner fuel.”
This goes in hand with the company’s earlier claims that in the case of PUC dismissing the application it will continue to pursue LNG opportunities on its own.