How will Hawaiian Electric Companys revenue stream be impacted if this wind farm project becomes operational?
There are three primary components of the overall Interisland Wind project: (1) Wind farms on the islands of Lanai and Molokai; (2) An undersea cable system; and (3) Utility transmission infrastructure on the island of Oahu. When Hawaiian Electric buys power from an independent producer (as it would in the case of a Castle & Cooke-developed wind project on Lanai or First Wind Hawaii-developed wind project on Molokai), the utility does not make any profit on that purchased energy. The costs to buy the power are passed through to customers with no markup. In the case of the undersea cable system, it is not contemplated that Hawaiian Electric will own the cable system and therefore it will not earn any profit on capital invested by others to construct it. With approval from its regulators — the Public Utilities Commission — the utility is allowed to recover the costs and earn a return on any capital infrastructure it builds and owns, such as the transmission lines on Oahu, to deliver th
