Hawaii’s only coal plant is on track to burn its last shipment of fuel and shut down by September 1. The AES plant in a West Oahu industrial park delivered cheap, reliable electricity to Honolulu and the rest of Oahu for 30 years. But Hawaii is switching from burning coal and oil for electricity to producing renewable power and storing it in batteries, per a landmark 2015 law. The state has added wind and solar generation, but this is the first time it will couple building new clean energy with shutting down a major fossil-fueled plant. That environmentally beneficial change spells the end of some 40 full-time jobs at the Barbers Point plant. AES is working to reassign its close-knit staff to other roles in the state or elsewhere in the energy company’s far-flung portfolio of facilities. The timing of the closure was dictated by another piece of legislation passed in 2020 specifically ​“to eliminate the use of coal in Hawaii for electricity production.” But the glide path to a cleaner island grid hit unexpected turbulence. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine triggered a global energy crisis and forced Hawaii to find new sources for a third of its oil. The result is sky-high prices at the gas station and for electricity, which in Hawaii mostly comes from burning oil. The AES closure makes the state’s grid more oil-dependent in the near term; that means electricity rates will go up before the new renewables shift the balance with much cheaper power. “It’s about having a North Star and being clear about what the long-term objectives are so that we can make generational decisions that will provide long-term stability and support for our communities,” Governor David Ige told Canary Media last Thursday at a ceremony marking the plant’s service to Oahu. Read the full story here: https://bit.ly/3QR6mjG