2022 Shultz Energy Fellowships: Hawaii Public Utilities Commission

Regional-, state-, and city-level efforts are essential in our fight against climate change, especially in the field of energy. Stanford University is committed to helping by integrating its students into energy and climate ecosystems in the West through the Shultz Energy Fellowships program, an energy-related summer fellowship program for undergraduate and graduate students.

Named in honor of former Secretary of State George P. Shultz, one of the most widely admired American public servants of the past half-century, the program offers a suite of paid, energy-related public service fellowships for Stanford students in California, Colorado, Utah, and Hawaii during the summer. 

The fellowships run from Monday, June 20, 2022 to Friday, August 26, 2022.

Organization/Agency mission or role in state government

The Hawaii Public Utilities Commission’s (HPUC) primary duty is to protect the public interest by overseeing and regulating public utilities to ensure that they provide reliable service at just and reasonable rates. HPUC regulates all chartered, franchised, certificated, and registered public utility companies operating in the State; reviews and approves rates, tariffs, charges and fees; determines the allowable rate of earnings in establishing rates; issues guidelines concerning the general management of franchised or certificated utility businesses; and acts on requests for the acquisition, sale, disposition or other exchange of utility properties, including mergers and consolidations.

Initial Project Descriptions

The HPUC is excited to again partner with Stanford University and to offer a Shultz Energy Fellowship position for the summer of 2022 within the HPUC Office of Policy and Research. We anticipate that a fellow will contribute to the development of electricity policies in the State of Hawaii through work on one or more of the dockets identified below, which relate to distributed energy resources (DER), electrification of transportation (EoT), and microgrids. Documents relating to these dockets can be found on the HPUC’s document management system.

We are contemplating three potential projects for a Shultz fellow below, which are subject to change depending on the needs of the HPUC and the interests of the fellow.

1. Incentivizing Acquisition of Grid Services from Distributed Energy Resources (DERs)
   The HPUC is currently reviewing policies and programs related to distributed energy resources (DERs) and has identified this as a potential area for contributions from a Shultz fellow. In particular, the Commission has recognized the need to expediently and effectively use the fleet of existing DERs to meet system needs, as well as to encourage the continued adoption and use of these resources across the state. In 2021, the Commission established performance incentive mechanisms (PIMs) that reward Hawaiian Electric for improved performance on timely interconnection of DERs and for procurement of grid services from DERs (see Docket 2018-0088). Additionally, the Commission is currently considering new program structures to compensate customers for the value produced by their DER systems while promoting market stability and customer understanding (see Docket 2019-0323). The initial PIM framework as established will be revisited in 2022 in order to improve the sophistication and effectiveness of the mechanism at encouraging desired outcomes. The HPUC envisions that a Shultz fellow could assist in data analysis of system needs, dispatch of services from DERs, economics of costs and benefits of DER programs, and attainment of initial PIMs. This project would likely involve developing PIM concepts, quantitative and policy analysis of PIM proposals from stakeholders, and drafting language to help inform a Decision and Order adopting new PIMs.
2. Promoting Grid Integration of Electrified Transportation
   In recognition that powering the transportation sector with renewable energy is critical to meeting the State’s carbon emissions reduction goals, the HPUC has been working with Hawaiian Electric to integrate electric vehicles into the system in a way that benefits both the grid and customers. To date, the Hawaiian Electric Companies have developed an Electrification of Transportation (EoT) Roadmap that outlines objectives and strategies for EoT within the purview of the utility (see Docket 2018-0135). Additionally, the utility has proposed different rate designs for vehicle charging, incentives for third-party development of charging infrastructure, and has proposed to build its own public charging network (see Dockets 2020-0152, 2020-0202, and 2021-0173). A Shultz fellow working on this project would have the opportunity to evaluate and quantify the benefits and costs of the utility’s proposed EoT projects (e.g. greenhouse gas impacts, customer bill impacts, impacts on renewable energy usage, etc.). Additionally, the fellow may assist in drafting Decisions and Orders and in developing policies and incentive mechanisms for encouraging next generation electric vehicle programs such as vehicle-to-grid programs in which vehicles can provide necessary grid services.
3. Encouraging development of Microgrid Projects through the Microgrid Services Tariff
   Microgrids can be a powerful tool to ensure reliability and resilience of electricity services to customers, including during extreme weather events. The HPUC is currently undertaking the second phase of the docket establishing a Microgrid Services Tariff for the Hawaiian Electric Companies (see Docket 2018-0163). The intent of this proceeding is to establish a Microgrid Services Tariff that will encourage development of microgrids in Hawaii by streamlining interconnection requirements and offering fair compensation for grid services provided by microgrids. As part of the second phase of this docket, the HPUC is focusing on opportunities to promote resiliency of critical facilities such as schools, shelters, hospitals, and government buildings, as well as expanding the Microgrid Services Tariff to support broader use of microgrids in Hawaii (including under non-emergency situations). The HPUC anticipates a Shultz fellow can contribute to the development of the Microgrid Services Tariff by analyzing microgrid applications and use cases, developing interconnection standards and requirements for microgrids, evaluating tariff language proposed by stakeholders, and participating in ongoing working group discussions in the docket.

The HPUC aniticipates staff will have a flexible hybrid work policy for summer 2022.

Potential Mentors

• James P. Griffin, Ph.D., Chair       
• David Parsons, Chief of Policy and Research

2021 Fellow

• Folasade Ayoola, PhD Candidate '23, Energy Resources Engineering
• Learn more about Folasade's experience at the HPUC:
  • Rethinking utility business models: Incenting the electrification of transportation and adoption of distributed energy resources
• View Folasade's final project.