Hawaiian Electric and Open Access Technology International, Inc. Expand Paradigm-Shifting Grid Services Project

Minneapolis, MN: February 02, 2021
Open Access Technology International, Inc. (OATI) is pleased to announce the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission has approved the second Grid Services Purchase Agreement (“GSPA”) with Hawaiian Electric. With this agreement, GSPA, OATI will continue to expand the provision of grid services to Hawaiian Electric.  

The Grid Services Program in Hawaii is widely acknowledged as the new model for power system operations. It has a unique design linking the utility, grid service suppliers, and end customers. This new phase of the innovative effort to deliver grid reliability services from demand-side resources was approved by the Hawaii PUC on December 31, 2020. 

The Grid Services project uses members of OATI’s Energy Alliance for access to Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) from solar PV  battery energy storage systems, and traditional demand response resources such as water heaters with smart controls. OATI and its Energy Alliance members will work cooperatively with Hawaiian Electric to subscribe customers to this program who will receive incentives from Hawaiian Electric for their participation.  

The OATI cloud-based system will manage the delivery of the grid services from DER-based virtual power plants (VPPs) to assure even greater reliability on Hawaiian Electric’s island grids and savings to Hawaiian Electric customers. OATI’s system dynamically supports the delivery of Fast Frequency Response, and scheduled load-shifting through Capacity Build, and Capacity Reduction  grid services to Hawaiian Electric to ease the integration of renewable energy. The frequency response service is fulfilled by a setpoint trigger or droop control function that provides Hawaiian Electric with additional emergency response capabilities.

OATI’s system solution is applicable to all markets throughout North America as it includes aggregators, suppliers, and wholesale operations, opening a multitude of benefits that allow for renewable assets to produce ancillary revenue. Aggregators working with OATI can provide wholesale grid services, enhance grid operations, and increase revenues to the owner of the renewable asset. This project builds on OATI’s work to cover all aspects of the recent FERC Order 2222 which allows for distributed assets to be leveraged by wholesale markets. 

“We would like to thank Hawaiian Electric for extending our partnership on a paradigm-shifting project.” said Sasan Mokhtari, president and CEO of OATI. “Through this agreement, Hawaiian Electric demonstrates its commitment to renewable resources and the multiple benefits they can provide to the grid.”

“Our islands have small, stand-alone grids with the highest levels of renewable generation in the nation, which makes them sensitive to supply and demand imbalances,” said Yoh Kawanami, co-director of customer energy resources at Hawaiian Electric. “This project is another important opportunity for Hawaiian Electric and OATI to continue to develop an innovative portfolio of customer-sited resources that meet a variety of grid requirements, while providing additional choices and benefits for our customers.”

About OATI
OATI provides innovative solutions that simplify, streamline, and empower the operational tasks required in today’s energy commerce and Smart Grid. Working alongside Utility providers and their customers, OATI successfully deploys and hosts diverse mission-critical solutions committed to industry standards and stringent security guidelines.

OATI (www.oati.com) is a leading provider of Smart Grid, Distribution, Energy Trading and Risk Management, Transmission Scheduling, Congestion Management, and Market Management products and services. OATI is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with offices in California, Punjab, Telangana, and Singapore. For more information, please contact sales@oati.net.

About Hawaiian Electric
Since 1891, Hawaiian Electric has provided the energy that has fueled Hawaii’s development from a Polynesian kingdom to a modern American state. Hawaiian Electric serves 95 percent of the state’s 1.4 million residents on Oahu, Maui, Hawaii Island, Lanai and Molokai. Hawaiian Electric is committed to empowering its customers and communities with affordable, reliable, clean energy and achieving a 100 percent renewable energy future for Hawaii.

In 2020, close to 35 percent of the energy used by Hawaiian Electric customers came from a diverse mix of renewable sources including waste-to-energy, biomass, geothermal, hydro, wind, biofuels and solar, both utility-scale and customer-sited rooftop systems. Hawaiian Electric is a leading employer with more than 2,700 team members across its five-island service territory. It is owned by parent company Hawaiian Electric Industries (NYSE: HE). For more information, visit: www.hawaiianelectric.com.