Subnational jurisdiction · as of 2026-09-07
Hawaii has no data-center-specific siting, permitting, or tax-incentive statute; a data-center project runs through the same general permitting spine as any other large facility.
State Land Use Commission districting (Haw. Rev. Stat. ch. 205) and county zoning (§ 46-4) govern where a facility may be sited, an environmental assessment or impact statement under chapter 343 is triggered if the project uses state or county land or funds or falls in a conservation district, an air permit under chapter 342B covers any backup generator fleet, and any grid connection is subject to Public Utilities Commission oversight, including the renewable portfolio standard at § 269-92.
Chapter 209E's enterprise zone incentives name manufacturing, agricultural, and biotechnology activity as eligible business activity, not information-technology or data-center operation specifically, so a data center's eligibility for that program is not established on this text.
The House of Representatives adopted a resolution in April 2026 asking the Hawaii State Energy Office to convene a working group studying large data centers' impact on the state's electric utilities, ratepayers, natural resources, and climate goals; the resolution asks for a study and creates no siting or permitting duty of its own.
6 instruments on record, grouped by the family of approval each one governs.
Who decides whether a data center may occupy a site, and through what approval?
Applies to both
Authorizes each county to adopt zoning ordinances, within the framework of its long-range comprehensive general plan, governing the areas where industry, trade, and business may be conducted, building height, bulk and use, and lot coverage; a data-center rezoning or use permit proceeds under a county's own zoning code enacted under this section.
Source: Full text of law
Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 205-1, 205-2, 205-4
Applies to both
The State Land Use Commission places all land in the State into one of four major districts, urban, rural, agricultural, and conservation. Section 205-4 sets the petition, hearing, and intervention procedure a landowner or agency must follow to reclassify land greater than fifteen acres, so a data center sited outside an urban district needs a boundary amendment through this process before county zoning can apply.
Source: Full text of law
What impact review must precede approval, and who leads it?
Applies to both
Requires an environmental assessment, and an environmental impact statement if a significant effect on the environment is found, for an action that proposes the use of state or county land or funds, that proposes use within a conservation district under chapter 205, or that proposes a power-generating facility, among the other triggers section 343-5 lists; a data center sited on state or county land, in a conservation district, or built as or with its own power-generating facility falls within this section's triggers.
Source: Full text of law
What authorizations govern grid connection and onsite generation?
Applies to private
Requires each electric utility selling electricity in Hawaii to meet a renewable portfolio standard rising to 100% of net electricity generation by December 31, 2045, enforced by the Public Utilities Commission; a data center's grid interconnection and power purchase arrangements sit within the Commission's rate and resource-planning jurisdiction over the utility supplying it, though the statute imposes no data-center-specific interconnection or large-load rule.
Source: Full text of law
What permits govern backup generators and ongoing emissions?
Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 342B-1, 342B-11
Applies to both
No person, including a public body, may cause air pollution or cause or allow the emission of a regulated air pollutant without first securing the Department of Health director's written approval; a data center's backup diesel generator fleet or other stationary emission source needs a permit under this prohibition before operating. A county may adopt its own air-pollution ordinance only for a matter the department's own rules do not already govern.
Source: Full text of law
What fiscal agreements attach a data center to its host jurisdiction?
Applies to private
Grants state and county tax incentives to an eligible business activity operating within a county-nominated, governor-declared enterprise zone; section 209E-2's definition of eligible business activity names manufacturing, wholesale sale, agricultural production and processing, biotechnology, and wind-power generation, and does not name information technology, data processing, or data-center operation as a qualifying activity.
Source: Full text of law
Every entry cites the instrument it describes. None of it is legal advice: verify a citation before relying on it. Full sourcing: read the methodology. The rest of the record: all jurisdictions.