The trick for the renewable standard was to change the business model of the public utility, Hawaiian Electric (HECO), Rodgers said, so that they could make more money in renewables. And…all of a sudden, they were happy to be at the table.

“HECO makes more money on renewables — by legislative design,” Rodgers said. “They were making 10% on top of the price of oil (which HI uses predominantly for energy). We had to change that formula. It costs them 27c per kWh to produce energy with oil. Much of it from Libya, Russia, and Saudi Arabia. The price is now about half that for them to produce and store renewables….. This is the thing we need to have on every ‘island’ in the world is to align incentives with the utility.”