Powering an Affordable Clean Energy Future for Hawai‘i with VPPs
- Written by Resource Innovations
- April 9, 2026
Overview
With a 100% clean energy goal by 2045, Hawai’i is increasing its reliance on wind, solar, and other renewable energy sources. In 2021, Hawaiian Electric Company (Hawaiian Electric) generated 38% of its electricity from renewables.
As renewable penetration increases, Hawaiian Electric is exploring innovative new ways to cost-effectively balance the grid, address resource intermittency, and engage customer-sited resources.
Program Snapshot
Solution
In 2019, Hawaiian Electric solicited competitive bids from aggregators to deliver capacity and ancillary services from distributed energy resources. The first such contract, called the “Grid Services Purchase Agreement,” was awarded to Open Access Technology International (OATI), which included Shifted Energy (now RI Shifted Energy DERMS, part of Resource Innovations) as the sub-aggregator.
“As pioneers of this project, we’re able to provide our clients with value while also enhancing our services in an engaging and innovative way. Our goal is to continue building developments with Hawaii’s people and affordability in mind–and with RI Shifted Energy DERMS’s grid-interactive water heaters, we’re not only lowering the cost of living, but also reducing our carbon footprint in Hawai’i.”
Christine CampPresident and CEO at Avalon Development
“We have successfully deployed multiple grid-interactive water heater (GIWH) pilot projects using RI Shifted Energy DERMS over the last five years, so we are confident in the technology’s capabilities. The key value propositions with two-way communications of GIWH technology are granular visibility into the current state of each asset, forecasting and provision of multiple grid services from a single device in a single day plus real-time monitoring and verification of performance during events.”
Yoh KawanamiCo-Director of Customer Energy Resources, Hawaiian Electric
Results
Families on Oahu and Maui were recruited, enrolled, and equipped with smart water heater controls, collectively delivering 2.5 MW of capacity for capacity reduction, capacity build, and fast frequency response. These assets are aggregated through RI Shifted Energy DERMS, Resource Innovations’ industry-leading virtual power plant platform.
RI Shifted Energy DERMS provides 15-minute, seven-day-ahead capacity forecasts to Hawaiian Electric via OATI to deliver reliable capacity estimates. 98% of its assets are in multi-family buildings, many of which are classified as ALICE (Asset-Limited, Income-Constrained, Employed) homes.
Take it with you.
Want to revisit these insights later? Get your own copy.