A $2 billion natural gas facility proposed for Kapolei is still anticipated to come online in four years.
In March, JERA Co. Inc., the largest power generation company in Japan, submitted a proposal to the state for a natural gas-fired power plant that would deliver about 500 megawatts of power — equivalent to about one-third of the island’s total power plant generation — to O‘ahu’s power grid annually.
That proposal estimated that the facility — called the Longboard LNG project — could go online in 2030, pending permitting and regulatory hurdles. On Wednesday, Erik Montague, vice president of development JERA Americas, told Aloha State Daily that is still possible, although the project is still not a guarantee for Hawai‘i.
“Nothing’s 100% in this world,” Montague said. “We’re very confident right now that this makes sense. Working through this process, making sure we’ve answered all of the technical and safety concerns in a way that the regulators are comfortable with, and the people here are comfortable with — that’s a process that we have to go through before we get to certainty.”
On Tuesday and Wednesday last week, JERA hosted a pair of open house events as part of a public outreach process required by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission before filing a formal application. At Wednesday’s event, at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center, JERA representatives presented facts about various facets of the proposed facility.
As the JERA proposal and representatives explained, the project would import liquefied natural gas to O‘ahu via tanker ships, which would be stored in an offshore floating fuel storage unit, which would also regasify the fuel, converting it from a liquid form back to gas. The fuel would then be delivered by an underwater pipeline to the power plant itself, located in Kapolei, which would burn the fuel, generating electricity to be sent throughout O‘ahu through the existing power grid.
Montague said the project dovetails with the state’s mandate that 100% of its net electricity generation come from renewable sources by 2045. He said Japan has its own similar mandate, with a 2050 deadline, which he called “a tall order.”
“We have seen tremendous progress in Japan,” Montague said. “I think Hawai‘i has seen tremendous progress, but that first 30%, 35%, is the easier stuff … The next 35% is going to be much more difficult, and we’re already seeing that, across the world, that the cost of these renewables are getting higher, and making sure that the grid is in a position to accept them becomes a bigger and bigger challenge.”
JERA’s involvement in Hawai‘i came about in 2023, during a Biden-era hydrogen “hubs” initiative, wherein the Department of Energy established regional hydrogen development and innovation hubs throughout the U.S., with about $7 billion in funding to boot.
“We met with some of the parties here, and I think it became apparent very quickly that the state had some serious energy challenges,” Montague said.
JERA completed a study in early 2024 about how to best decarbonize the state, which concluded that the “gas transition pathway” was the most cost-effective and carbon-friendly option. After sharing this study with the state, and following further discussions, JERA eventually signed a strategic partnering agreement with Hawai‘i in Oct. 2025 to develop energy projects in the state.
LNG is not a renewable fuel. However, Montague said JERA’s facility is not incompatible with the state’s mandate; the facility can be converted to burn other clean fuels such as biofuel, while JERA’s regasification unit can weigh anchor and sail on to different markets.
“A transition from coal and oil to gas is a very tried-and-true pathway to manage affordability and emissions,” Montague said, adding that about 70% of O‘ahu’s power still comes from oil generation. “The transition beyond that, I think, is probably a bit more varied.
“Many places that are upgrading their thermal infrastructure to modern gas power are able to increase their renewable generation, so that even though they may still be using natural gas, they’re able to use less of it and have a higher penetration of renewables in their market,” Montague said.
Montague said he expects JERA will formally file an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission by the end of the year, which will kick off “a very regimented review process.” Meanwhile, regulatory steps on the state side, with the Public Utilities Commission, must also play out, which Montague said JERA is “still a bit earlier.”
“Once it starts producing cleaner, more affordable power, then I’ll tell you that it’s 100% certain,” Montague said. “Obviously once you start construction, that’s a big milestone, but that’s still a little ways out in front of us.”
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