Helping Hawaii Meet Clean Energy Goals through Smart Building Technology

“Thanks to Hawai’i Energy incentive, we were able to install GridPoint’s technology at all eligible locations throughout Hawai’i. It was a smooth process from initial site data collection through installation and commissioning. Our initial savings were almost 13%, and the reporting provided by GridPoint’s platform allows us to better understand how efficiently our HVAC units are operating and what we can do to continue to conserve energy and reduce costs without impacting the comfort of our customers and staff.”
– Butch Galdeira, Director of Retail Operations, Aloha Petroleum

About Hawai’i Energy: Hawai’i Energy is the energy efficiency & conservation program for the County of Hawai‘i, County of Maui and the City & County of Honolulu. The Program works to educate island families and businesses about the many lasting benefits of clean energy, while encouraging and rewarding practical energy-saving decisions. Learn more at HawaiiEnergy.com/about.

About Aloha Petroleum: Aloha Petroleum, Ltd. is one of the largest gasoline marketers and convenience store operators in Hawaii. Aloha employs over 700 Hawaii residents and markets through four brands across the island: Aloha Gas, Shell, Aloha Island Mart and Dunkin’.

The Challenge: Energy costs in Hawaii are the highest in the country and as prices continue to rise it is directly impacting businesses’ bottom lines across the state. Hawai’i Energy’s Smart Device program was launched in 2021 to help businesses deploy GridPoint’s smart building technology and optimize energy usage, reduce utility bills and make their businesses more resilient to volatile energy costs. Through the program, qualified businesses can receive a 50% rebate (up to $5,000 per site) toward installing GridPoint’s basic smart controls package at their locations in the counties served by Hawaii Energy (Honolulu, Maui, and Hawaii Counties). Aloha Petroleum evaluated the technology and was further incentivized by the rebates to move forward with GridPoint’s platform. To start, they deployed the technology at 30 convenience store and market concepts across the Big Island, Maui, Oahu and Kauai in April of 2021.

Figure 1. Aloha Petroleum enrolled 30 locations with GridPoint’s smart building technology across the Big Island, Maui, Oahu and Kauai

GridPoint’s Solution: Aloha Petroleum’s solution is comprised of HVAC controls, main load metering, GridPoint Energy Manager software as well as access to GridPoint’s Customer Success and Data Analytics teams, all for a monthly subscription fee. The teams held a kick-off call to establish energy goals and develop a custom strategy for Aloha Petroleum that took into account Hawaii’s hot and humid climate, savings potential within the sites, and operational efficiency across their locations. GridPoint worked with Aloha Petroleum personnel to schedule installations outside of business hours, as well as to onboard key employees to understand how to use the technology and establish success metrics. The teams continue to meet on a quarterly cadence to go over the savings, and facility data, and to make additional recommendations.

The Results: Temperature set point strategies and schedules were established and GridPoint’s technology leverages patented algorithms to control equipment in the building to be most efficient. In the event a site gets too hot or too cold, on-site employees are able to override the temperature within pre-set limitations as needed. Aloha management is able to view real-time data as well as detailed reports through the GridPoint Energy Manager software or through the mobile app to ensure all of their locations are operating as scheduled.

Once the technology was installed and commissioned, GridPoint’s HVAC Health tool identified 12 locations with pre-existing HVAC issues and categorized the issues by severity. The Aloha Petroleum team was then able to use those insights to prioritize maintenance and ensure their equipment was operating safely and efficiently. The HVAC Health tool continues to be used by Aloha Petroleum to periodically evaluate how their HVAC units are performing and proactively schedule maintenance to avoid costly issues resulting in downtime at a site. Aloha greatly values the facility insights provided through GridPoint reports to help ensure their facilities are operating as they should 24/7.

Figure 2. Since deploying GridPoint’s technology, Aloha Petroleum has achieved over 13% averaged energy savings across locations, with one month reaching almost 17%

Since deploying the technology, Aloha Petroleum has achieved over 13% average savings on energy across locations from June 2021 to May 2022, surpassing the original goal of 10%. Adding to the financial results, 26 of the 30 locations were eligible for the full rebate provided by Hawai’i Energy, reducing the monthly subscription cost for GridPoint’s platform in half. To further put the total ROI in perspective, for every $1 spent on GridPoint’s technology over these 12 months, Aloha Petroleum saved over $12.50.