Hawai‘i’s energy future is natural gas, claims a $2 billion development proposal by a Japanese energy company.
In October 2025, Gov. Josh Green traveled to Tokyo to sign an agreement for the state to partner with JERA Co. Inc. — the largest power generation company in Japan, supplying about one-third of the nation's electricity, according to the Hawai‘i State Energy Office — to help the state meet its clean energy goals.
On Tuesday, Green’s office announced that JERA has submitted a proposal for how it would modernize O‘ahu’s energy grid, including the construction of a natural gas-fired power plant in Kapolei that would generate about 500 megawatts of power per year.
According to Hawaiian Electric, O‘ahu’s various power plants generate a combined 1,516 megawatts.
JERA has proposed investing — along with “local partners” — $2 billion into a Kapolei plant fed by imported liquefied natural gas, delivered via an undersea pipeline connecting to tankers moored offshore. The facility would connect to the existing O‘ahu power grid, distributing power through most of urban Honolulu.
Such a facility would be necessary for the state to meet its legally mandated energy goals, claims JERA’s proposal. In 2022, the state passed a law requiring that 100% of the state’s net electricity generation come from renewable sources by 2045, and 40% by 2030.
To meet those goals, O‘ahu’s oil power plants must be replaced, but JERA’s proposal states that the growth of renewable energy generation on the island isn’t fast enough to fill the gap left behind by oil plants. But a liquified natural gas plant could fill that gap.
While liquified natural gas is not a renewable fuel, it is less expensive and generates less emissions than petroleum, JERA claims.
If implemented, JERA’s proposal claims that the state could save about $170 million per year compared to the state’s annual oil expenses, while households could save an average of $500 per year.
Furthermore, investments in the plant would not be wasted after 2045, as JERA claims that about 90% of the facility could be repurposed to deliver clean energy: the pipeline could be used to deliver an unspecified “clean fuel,” a floating fuel storage and regasification unit could be used as a “floating gas station” to refuel ships, and the plant itself could be adapted to work with hydrogen, ammonia or other fuel sources with “limited upgrades.”
JERA’s proposal suggests that the plant and most of the necessary infrastructure could be constructed by the end of 2030. During construction, JERA proposes the project could increase the state’s GDP by $150 million per year and create some 1,100 jobs.
Once completed, those benefits shrink, with JERA projecting only an additional $52 million annually to the state GDP and 167 permanent jobs. JERA also estimates that the annual cost of operating the facility would be about $670 million per year.
Green’s announcement comes just three days after the Asia-Pacific Energy Security Forum, where Japan committed to invest up to $56 billion in energy projects in America, primarily focusing on oil imports and natural gas, liquified and otherwise. JERA was reportedly tied to some of these deals, including a $1.5 billion investment into natural gas production in the southern U.S.
JERA’s Hawai‘i proposal and Green’s announcement Tuesday name Hawai‘i Gas and Pasha Hawai‘i as specific local partners for the project. Hawai‘i Gas CEO Alicia Moy said in a statement that her company supports the expansion of liquified natural gas availability and would develop the pipeline infrastructure necessary to deliver it and other renewable fuels throughout the state.
Green’s own statement on Tuesday touted JERA’s proposal a “transformative overhaul of our electrical grid and a tangible step to move Hawai‘i off its historic dependence on oil.”
Nonetheless, the proposal isn’t a done deal. The state Public Utilities Commission must approve the project, along with several other state and federal agencies, many of which will require public outreach. JERA predicts the permitting phase alone won’t be completed until mid-2028.
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