Maui moves closer to forming own utility to get to 100-percent clean energy

Maui County is getting serious about forming its own municipal utility or nonprofit cooperative, thus breaking away from the Hawaiian Electric Cos., according to public documents obtained by PBN. The county’s Office of Economic Development has budgeted $30,000 for a firm to analyze the best utility and ownership structures that will support the transformation of the island's electric grids into 100-percent renewable energy smart grids and microgrids. Maui’s Office of Economic Development intends…