Ho’ahu Awarded Energy Grant

Ho’ahu Energy Cooperation Molokai (HECM) was one of four organizations nation-wide to receive funding under the Energy Storage for Social Equity (ES4SE) Initiative. The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Electricity (OE) funding will assist Ho’ahu deploying residential islanded solar and battery storage nano-grids to 15 households in the Molokai community. ES4SE will support a BESS, inverter and controls, remote monitoring equipment, and look at ways to partner with HECM’s workforce development program.

ES4SE is designed to empower disadvantaged communities to consider energy storage technologies as a viable path toward achieving their energy goals.

“These organizations are fully engaged with ES4SE to find energy storage solutions in their communities,” said Gene Rodrigues, assistant secretary for electricity. “OE is proud of our ES4SE partners, because we believe their participation will result in improved resilience, energy affordability, and prosperity where they live.”

OE supported two of DOE’s national laboratories—Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia)—to develop ES4SE.

The first phase of ES4SE—Technical Assistance (TA)—launched in March 2022 with $2 million in funding. OE selected fourteen communities to participate in a comprehensive and personalized TA program, led by PNNL. An initial four communities have been selected for the PDDA phase, led by Sandia. This phase includes project cost-share assistance. Sandia will also provide technical support, including requests for proposal development, system installation and commissioning guidance, system safety reviews, and local first responder safety training for participants throughout the PDDA. 

Additional selections for PDDA cost-share from the remaining 10 communities may be made during the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2023.