Life of the Land’s
Wayfinding:
Sowing the Seeds for
Transforming Energy Futures
Henry Curtis
(March 31, 2012)
1 Wayfinding Report
The State of Hawai`i should generate 90% of its electricity from distributed renewable energy resources by 2025
Dedication
This Report is dedicated to the nearly 20,000 Americans who die each year from fossil fuel air emissions & to the 100 millions of people worldwide who will be displaced due to climate change.
Acknowledgments
I wish to thank Peggy Lucas Bond and Bob King for their suggestions and to Sally Kaye for her thoughtful insight and superb editing of each draft of this Report.
2 Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Energy Efficiency
3. Continuous Energy Resources
4. Variable Energy Resources
5. Batteries
6. Moloka`i
7. Lana`i
8. Hawai`i
9. Maui
10. O`ahu
11. Kaua`i and Ni`ihau
12. The Future Utility and its Regulation
13. Summary
Appendix I: Comparative Costs
Acronyms
Glossary
References
3 CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
This work is a follow-up to the chapter on Energy written by this author in "The Value of Hawaii: Knowing the Past, Shaping the Future" (July 2010),1 which laid out several competing scenarios or paths towards energy independence.
The author subsequently elaborated on one of the options: “Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC),” by discussing how each of the Hawaiian islands could be 100% energy self-reliant for both electrical generation and ground, marine, and air transportation by 2030 in: “Energy Independence for Hawai`i (2030) An Integrated Approach to Economic Revitalization in a Culturally and Environmentally Sensitive Way” (February 25, 2011).2
This Report now explores a second path forward: Distributed Generation, which focuses on a decentralized, community-based model of energy self-sufficiency utilizing local solutions. These are variously known as on-site generation, dispersed generation, embedded generation, decentralized generation, and decentralized energy.
Moving expeditiously to replace fossil-fuel-based electric generation makes great economic sense. Each year Hawai`i buys 40 million barrels of oil from abroad. At $100/barrel that is $4 billion dollars leaving the State. If in fact that money stayed here, it would ripple through the economy, just as a rock dropped in the middle of a pond sends ripples in all directions. Using the classic economic multiplier, DBEDT estimates that each dollar invested locally adds three dollars to the economy. Thus keeping $4 billion a year in Hawai`i would add $12 billion to State coffers. To put this in easy-to-understand terms, the state Gross Domestic Product is $60 billion per year, so adding $12 billion to the economy would result in 20% more economic activity and a sharp rise in employment. This financial injection would provide added tax revenue that would allow greater funding of core governmental functions including education, health, and safety net programs.
In the traditional utility model, distribution lines brought electricity to every home. In the modern, non-centralized utility model, homeowners, renters, businesses, and industry can all produce most of their own power via rooftop solar and other renewable technologies. It is the author’s belief that local communities will benefit the most by moving to distributed renewable energy generation, and that local communities should ultimately determine which resources are appropriate for their homes and islands and which resources should not be deployed.
Unfortunately, Hawaiian Electric (HECO) and the State have elected to focus instead on a different scenario, one based on a “Smart Grid,” which serves to perpetuate the 19th century model of centralized energy system distribution.
1 Edited by Craig Howes and Jonathan Kay Kamakawiwo‘ole Osorio. Published for the Biographical Research Center, University of Hawai‘i 2 http://www.lifeofthelandhawaii.org/Energy_Independence_for_Hawaii_2030.pdf
4 The essence of Smart Grid technology is to solve the problem of balancing supply and demand by installing massive computers and telecommunication facilities in order to have increasing top-down control over all aspects of generation, transmission and use of energy. This will prove to be an extremely expensive proposition.
Some Hawai`i energy “experts” believe in a Modified Smart Grid approach, where smart grid technologies would be "in addition to," rather than "instead of," all current primary resource options. These experts believe that smart grid technologies will, in general, be the most cost effective means for optimizing the integration of as-available and dispatchable renewable energy and energy storage systems, at high renewable energy grid penetration levels.
The Smart Grid and the Modified Smart Grid both propose top-down centralized control of the grid. The Smart Grid is advocated by those who feel that utility control is paramount, and future renewable energy systems will only gradually be interconnected to the grid. The Modified Smart Grid is advocated by those who focus on developing and building renewable energy as quickly as possible, and view making grid improvements the best way to achieve this.
The essence of Distributed Generation, on the other hand, is to balance supply and demand by relying on small-scale, dispersed power generation systems located adjacent to where the power is needed.
The Vortex
In the summer of 2010, Kris Mayes, Chair of the Arizona Corporation Commission3 (2009-10) spoke about “cascading natural deregulation” at an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) solar convention held at the Hawaiian Convention Center.
She explained that “cascading natural deregulation” means that as the cost of renewable systems trend downward and electric rates go up, those who can leave the grid, will leave the grid, by building or installing on-site generation. The fixed costs associated with energy production, transmission and distribution will then have to be absorbed by the remaining smaller rate base. Thus, those who remain will see their rates go up even more, causing more people to opt out of a centralized grid, driving the rates for those who remain even higher. Under this scenario, companies such as HECO would be sucked down into a bottomless vortex and ultimately fail as a viable investor-owned corporation.
This could occur in Hawai`i first since the state not only has the highest utility rates in the nation, and has held that record for decades, but also has some of the
3 The equivalent of the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission.
5 nation’s best alternative renewable sources in solar, wind, wave and geothermal resources.
HECO is acutely aware of this. In the past few years the rate of solar installations within Hawai`i has doubled each year. The number of renewable energy developers who have made proposals to the utility for large-scale grid-connected renewable energy projects has gone up ten-fold. The increasing use of various energy efficiency systems are also driving down the demand for electricity. HECO, and its subsidiaries Maui Electric (MECO) and Hawaii Electric Light (HELCO), experienced peak energy use in 2004. Since then the demand for electricity has been dropping.
In anticipation of this dim future, the utility wrote the Hawai`i Clean Energy Initiative (HCEI) in 2008. The document calls for the Legislature and the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission to adopt policies to shield HECO from this impending doomsday scenario. One such policy or concept is called “Decoupling.” This mechanism states that the utility is entitled to a certain amount of profit, and as sales drop they can automatically increase rates to keep their profits on target. The PUC has already approved this mechanism.
An additional centerpiece of the HCEI is the development of industrial scale renewable power plants that would require extensive cabling to send large amounts of power to the primary load center, O`ahu.
Climate Change – one more reason to leave the grid
Moving away from fossil fuel use is not simply a matter of economics, but a matter of slowing the rate of climate change.
As Life of the Land’s Vice President for Social Justice, Kat Brady, testified to the PUC in 2009 in the matter of HECO’s proposed power plant at Campbell Industrial Park: “The planet is in crisis. Global warming can no longer be ignored. The science is in and the data is conclusive that global warming and climate change is primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels. We no longer have a choice. We must change or perish. The earth is in crisis and this proposed project does nothing to address the fact that global warming is real - the planet is heating up faster than predicted and the future is uncertain.”4
It is now a settled matter that ocean levels are rising due to the melting of land- based glaciers and other snow and ice formations. While melting ice bergs do not change the depth of the water, the oceans expand with rising temperatures. The oceans are also becoming more acidic. Low lying areas are facing coastal erosion and salt water intrusions into drinking water aquifers. Pacific Atolls and low-lying islands are particularly vulnerable.
4 Testimony of Kat Brady, Vice President for Social Justice, Life of the Land, Hawai`i Public Utilities Commission, Docket No. 2005-0145, O`ahu Power Plant (“Brady LOL T-1”).
6 “The government of Tuvalu is in a quandary as salt water intrusion threatens their aquifers and as they witness the loss of their shorelines and their food-producing gardens to a rising sea. Tuvaluan officials have made arrangements with Aotearoa (New Zealand) to relocate their people, but not all of the people want to leave. Some fear the loss of their culture and would rather sink with the island than face the cultural genocide of assimilation. The issue for Tuvalu is how to slow the heating of the planet so that their culture will thrive in its homeland. Tuvaluans have not caused the problem, but are suffering the very real impacts. Global warming raises moral issues and health issues as well as scientific and environmental issues.”5
Health Impacts
Continued use of fossil fuel also contributes to health issues. The National Academy of Science, at the request of U.S. Congress, analyzed fossil fuel based air pollution in 2010 (“Hidden Costs of Energy: Unpriced Consequences of Energy Production and Use,”6 2010). The Report found that 20,000 people die prematurely each year from fossil fuel air pollution, and that health impacts in the U.S. ($120 billion/year) from the use of coal and oil were nearly equal. Pollen is an important trigger and possible cause of asthma. Since higher temperatures and elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations can promote the growth and earlier flowering of pollen-producing plant species, the length and intensity of the pollen season and expanding its geographical range is expanded.7
Although the report did NOT analyze the health impacts associated with global warming; burning oil for trains, ships and planes; coal mining; and coal byproducts dumped into streams and rivers,8 it did determine that renewable motor fuel (corn- based ethanol) was slightly worse than gasoline in its environmental impact.
Ecosystems
According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: “Conserving native species and ecosystems is a challenging task that is destined to become progressively more difficult as global climate change accelerates in the coming years. Temperature, rainfall patterns, sea level and ocean chemistry, to name but a few, will move beyond the range of our experience ...Climate change presents Pacific Islands with unique challenges including rising temperatures, sea-level rise, contamination of freshwater resources with saltwater, coastal erosion, an increase in extreme weather events, coral reef bleaching, and ocean acidification. ...In Hawai‘i, the seasonal and geographic distribution of rainfall and temperature has combined with steep, mountainous terrain to produce a wide array of island-scale climate regimes.
5 Brady LOL T-1. 6 http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12794 7 http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pdfs/johngirman.pdf; http://www.lung.org/associations/states/california/assets/pdfs/advocacy/global-warming-impacts- public.pdf 8 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/20/science/earth/20fossil.html
7 These varying regimes in turn have supported the diversification of Hawai‘i native plants and animals. Increasing amounts of human-caused greenhouse gases will likely alter the archipelago’s terrestrial and marine environments.”9
The role that fossil fuel use by humans plays in contributing to climate change is abundantly clear.
Proposed Solution
Rather than waiting for the inevitable escalating rate hikes, and for climate change to reach crisis levels, communities should find ways of leaving the grid now. In the process they can save money, increase the amount of revenue that stays and circulates within their local communities, while creating local jobs, and decreasing the environmental, social and cultural impacts associated with energy production, transmission and use. Since each island has different resources and different values it only makes sound social and economic sense to design each island system differently.
9 http://www.fws.gov/pacific/Climatechange/changepi.html
8 CHAPTER II: ENERGY EFFICIENCY
Before turning to a discussion of island-specific potentials for distributed renewable energy, a few facts about energy efficiency, the most cost-effective means to lower costs for all islands, and firm and intermittent sources of energy.
Energy efficiency simply means doing the same work with less energy.
Hunter Lovins (co-founder of Rocky Mountain Institute, TIME Magazine's 2000 Millennium Hero of the Planet & the European financial community's 2008 Sustainability Pioneer) discussed energy efficiency at the Sustainable Hawaii Conference (1997), co-sponsored by Maui Tomorrow and Maui's Grand Wailea Resort.
Full of energy and positive outlook, Lovins is driven by the need to reduce wasteful energy consumption -- "The key notion that makes getting off oil possible is counter-intuitive: the best and cheapest ‘source’ of energy is not in fact supply, but efficiency. Any effort in these directions will save money, increase American national security, and help protect the environment. ... In nearly every case, energy efficiency costs far less than the fuel or electricity it saves. It costs only about 2 cents per kilowatt hour to save energy."10
Compact Fluorescent Light Bulb Light Emitting Diode (LED) Traffic (CFL)11 Light12
CFL’s should replace incandescent light bulbs. Toy ovens, powered by an incandescent light bulb, cooks food because practically all of the energy emerging from the bulb is heat, not light. Buildings using incandescent lighting have to remove this heat from rooms by using air conditioning. But by switching to CFLs, no heat is created and the room does not need as much cooling.
A light-emitting diode (LED) is based on diode electronics. Currently they are more expensive and require specific heat management and current specifications. The advantages, however, include longer life, lower energy consumption and smaller size.
10 “Making it Last” by Hunter Lovins, August 10, 2004 http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/can-we- live-without-oil/1018 11 http://akagreen.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/cfl.jpg 12 http://www.fad.co.za/Diary/diary010/traffic-lights-led.jpg
9 Meters. Small devices can be installed between a plug and a wall outlet that measure the flow to each device when the device is on. Phantom power loads refers to the electricity used by a device when it is “off.” Often devices use almost as much electricity in the off position, which is a "consumer" convenience allowing quick starts.
The Energy Detective (TED) costs between $200-300 (depending on the features desired) plus the cost for an electrician to install it. TED sends real-time data every 10 minutes to either a The Plug-in Energy Meter The Energy Detective14 customer's iGoogle gadget & Electricity Cost or Google account. Calculator13
Solar Water Heaters
Solar Screen15 Solar Water Heater16 Solar Water Heater components17
Solar water heating, or a solar hot water system, uses water heated by solar energy. Solar heating systems are generally composed of solar thermal collectors,
13 http://www.smarthome.com/11391/Plug-in-Energy-Meter-and-Electricity-Cost-Calculator/p.aspx 14 http://www.devicedaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/energy-detective.jpg 15 http://solarscreenusa.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/sun_solar.26322434_std.jpg 16 http://solar.calfinder.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/solar-water-heater-rooftop.jpg 17 http://www.energyeducation.tx.gov/renewables/section_3/topics/solar_water_heaters/img/fig20a_sol ar_water.gif
10 along with a fluid system to move the heat from the collector to its point of usage. The system may use electricity for pumping the fluid, and have a reservoir or tank for heat storage and subsequent use. Since twenty to thirty percent of a home’s typical energy use is to heat water, a solar hot water system saves a proportionate amount both in displacing fossil fuel use and lowering monthly bills.
Daylighting
Skylights (rooftop windows18) are Allowing the sun to provide ambient horizontal windows or domes placed on the light for rooms can be done with roof skylights.19
Although most beneficial in large hotels and buildings found on more populous islands such as Oahu and Maui, daylighting is a simple mechanism that can be appropriate for large as well as small structures.
Rather than blocking off a building from its environment and then creating an off- setting artificial interior lighting environment, daylighting allows an interaction between the two.
Solar Shelf Solar Tube Solar Light Bulb
Light shelves20 placed below the Solar Tubes capture dispersed Solar tubes windows can be used to reflect sunlight and through reflective generates sunlight upward to illuminate the material within the tube, diffuse light.22 ceiling to create general transfer that light into illumination. rooms.21
18 http://buildingcommissioning.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/daylighting1.jpg 19 http://farm1.static.flickr.com/83/216500844_7154d601a2_o.jpg 20www.robotecture.com/endofmechanics/CONTENT/Student%20Apps/EZ/Zambrano%20EOM%20final/ template-img/light_shelves.jpg 21 http://www.inhabitat.com/2006/12/28/solar-tube/ 22www.portlandonline.com/shared/cfm/image.cfm?id=114639
11 Sea Water Air Conditioning (SWAC)
SWAC Diagram23 SWAC System24
Sea Water Air Conditioning (SWAC) is a great energy-efficient system. It involves two pipes, a U-shaped ocean-water pipe and a circular fresh-water pipe, which meet at a heat exchanger. The water in each pipe does not cross into the other pipe, rather the heat moves from the fresh-water to the ocean-water pipe. The ocean water pipe pulls cold water from the lower depths and discharges warmer water to a warmer layer of the ocean.
Deep-water air-conditioning is appropriate for major cities located near the ocean or near deep lakes, as it has the advantages of low cost, and great savings on both energy and air conditioning chemicals. Utilizing the systems described above, deep- water air-conditioning is suitable for large, midsize and small communities, as well as universities, hospitals or hotel resorts.
The fresh-water pipe brings cool water into buildings, where heat exchangers pull heat out of internal pipes within individual buildings. This alleviates the need for expensive chillers to be located within each building, where forty percent of the commercial load is for cooling.
“Air conditioning systems are energy intensive and represent 35% to 45% of energy use in typical office and hotel buildings in Hawaii. ...SWAC is suitable for coastal developments with large air conditioning demand and reasonable access to deep, cold seawater. Notable areas are southern Kauai, several areas of Oahu, and the southern 60% or more of the Big Island. A number of studies have been conducted to evaluate the potential of SWAC in Hawaii, and there is an operating
23 http://www.zulenet.com 24 http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/assets/images/story/2008/7/9/1332-investors-fund-us-10- 75-m-for-honolulu-seawater-air-conditioning.jpg
12 system at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority (NELHA) at Keahole Point, Hawaii. These studies all show that there is significant potential for SWAC in Hawaii. More recent studies show that combining SWAC with thermal energy storage and auxiliary chillers increases the cost effectiveness and applicability of such systems. ...SWAC systems eliminate the need for cooling towers and, as a result, reduce potable water use, toxic chemical use, and the production of sewage.”25
Cornell University studied this approach in a multi-year environmental review, which was examined in depth by environmentalists and university researchers. The University found that the total yearly heat added, via pipe, to a lake located six miles from campus was equivalent to one hour of summer sunshine upon the lake’s surface. That is, over the course of the year, the sun accounted for 99.9% of the heat entering the lake, less than one percent would have been added as a result of the SWAC system. The SWAC system at Cornell, as well as one in Toronto, were installed by a Hawai`i company, Makai Ocean Engineering.
Electric Utilities: Does pursuing Energy Efficiency create a Conflict of Interest?
There is an inherent conflict of competing interests for a utility, designed to maximize its profits by selling more electricity, if it is at the same time being paid with ratepayer money to help customers reduce their energy bills through the installation of energy efficiency devices.
Because of this conflict, the Hawai`i Public Utilities Commission removed energy efficiency programs from HECO, MECO and HELCO and assigned oversight of the programs to an independent company.
To further confuse a confused playing field, the utility nonetheless collects money from ratepayers through each monthly bill, and then transfers the money to another entity that monitors the energy efficiency program. Currently Science Applications International Corporation administers “Hawaii Energy”, the ratepayer- funded conservation and efficiency program, under a contract with the PUC.26
The mission of Hawaii Energy is “to educate, encourage and incentivize the ratepayers of Hawaii to invest in conservation behaviors and efficiency measures to reduce Hawaii's dependence on imported fuels.”
Residential incentives offered by HawaiiEnergy include “solar water heating, high efficiency water heaters, heat pumps, compact fluorescent lights (CFLs), central air conditioning (AC) maintenance, ENERGY STAR® appliances, bounty program, whole house and solar attic fans.”27
25 Testimony of Dr. David Rezachek in Hawai`i PUC Docket 2005-145 re: Sea Water Air Conditioning. http://www.lifeofthelandhawaii.org/Proposed-2009-plant/Rezachek.pdf 26 http://www.hawaiienergy.com/4/about-us; Email: [email protected]; Web: www.hawaiienergy.com; Facebook: www.facebook.com/hawaiienergy; Twitter: @MyHawaiiEnergy 27 http://www.hawaiienergy.com/4/about-us
13 Hawaii Energy also provides commercial incentives for lighting, pumps, motors, air conditioners, window films, energy studies and sub-metering (allowing a landlord, condominium or homeowner’s association with one meter to bill tenants and lessees for individually measured utility usage).28
Sustainable Saunders
Second to only the military, the University of Hawai`i, Manoa campus, is the largest consumer of electricity in the state.29 In the late 1990s the entire university system was connected to the HECO grid with only one meter, making it impossible for the university to know which buildings on campus were wasting energy.
In 2006 a group of students, led by a dynamic coordinator Shanah Trevenna, formed a group called Help Us Bridge (HUB).30 In 2007 HUB surveyed the majority of occupants of Saunders Hall regarding their energy use and found that “90% of the building’s energy was used for lighting and air conditioning while the top two complaints by residents were that the lights were too bright and the temperature too cold.”31
In an effort to make energy savings exciting, Trevenna wanted to have each floor compete against one another, with part of the savings going to the winning floor, part to the building as a whole, and part to the university. At first the University Administration balked at creating financial arrangements, but then the energy price spike of 2008 hit and the University’s HECO bill rose from $15M to $21M in a year.
Trevenna was able to get a local vendor to donate a micro wind system and a solar panel for installation on the roof of Saunders Hall.
The University quickly adopted an energy strategy,32 statistics were gathered on buildings that wasted energy,33 and over 500 megawatt-hours of savings documented for particular programs: AC Shutdown Project (411 MWh saved), Incandescent Bulb Elimination (42 MWh saved), and Delamping Project (107 MWh saved).
In 2010 the Saunders Hall floor competition started: “For the first time, a department at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa has received a financial award for reducing energy consumption. ”34
28 Id. 29 http://manoa.hawaii.edu/news/article.php?aId=4004 30 http://sustainable.hawaii.edu/factsheet.html 31 http://sustainable.hawaii.edu/Reports/Eco- Tipping%20Point%20Summary%20of%20sustainable%20saunders.pdf 32 University of Hawaii at Mānoa Energy Strategy 2008-2015 http://rs.acupcc.org/site_media/uploads/cap/381-cap.pdf 33 http://sustainablesaunders.hawaii.edu/campus_stats.html 34 http://manoa.hawaii.edu/news/article.php?aId=4004
14 Without using any university funds, Saunders Hall’s annual energy bill has been reduced by $150,000.35
Maximum Achievable Efficiency Potential Savings36
Building Type Potential Savings Residential New Construction 36% Residential Retrofit 34% Commercial New Construction 30% Commercial Retrofit 19%
Big Picture Savings
Overall electricity use has dropped in the past few years, but it is difficult to quantify what percentage of that is from the adoption of energy efficiency, the rise in electricity rates, causing less use, or the drop in economic activity caused by the economic recession, resulting in less demand.
However, one thing is clear. For an individual ratepayer, the most cost-effective thing to do is to reduce energy demand by increasing efficiency, which includes using less.
35 http://honoluluweekly.com/feature/2011/09/spending-money-to-stay-uncomfortable/; See also: http://sustainablesaunders.hawaii.edu/#accomplishments 36 NREL/SR- 7A40-52442, p. 8: “Maximum Achievable Potential Efficiency Case” as described in Assessment of Energy Efficiency and Demand Response Potential, a 2004 report prepared by Global Energy Partners for HECO.
15 CHAPTER III: CONTINUOUS ENERGY RESOURCES
Continuous (baseload) or “firm” energy resources are available all of the time - they can operate a system “24/7.” Firm energy is always the preferred energy source, since reserves to back up generation is only required for maintenance and unexpected outages/system failure, and not to “back up” less-efficient, intermittent sources.
Fossil Fuels
There are three types of fossil fuels: coal, petroleum oil and natural gas. Crude natural gas, often just called gas, exists in large underground deposits. Natural gas can be refined into various products including natural gas (methane; CH4), carbon dioxide, water vapor, and various other hydrocarbons.
The cleanest of these “dirty” fuels is natural gas. It is the cleanest in terms of both its extraction and its use. Hawaii relies on the “dirtier” types of fossil fuels, namely coal and oil.
Natural gas provides an effective way to maintain steady electricity load (supply). That is, the output of gas turbines can change rapidly to offset fluctuations in the electricity produced by intermittent renewable energy (solar and wind) generators.
In 2004 the Hawaii Energy Policy Forum released a report on liquefied natural gas (LNG) that identified some of the complexities and issues surrounding its use in Hawai`i:37
“In recent years, [] the LNG market has undergone a dramatic transformation. Production costs have declined and the large number of new supply projects has transformed the LNG market into a buyer’s market, where buyers have much more flexibility in contract terms and prices are significantly lower. Of course, a change of this magnitude is likely to be disruptive to the existing energy infrastructure, but LNG clearly deserves a close look as Hawaii considers its future energy strategy. ...
LNG is natural gas that has been cooled to -256 °F, at which point it liquefies and occupies 1/600th the volume that it does in its gaseous state. LNG is not pressurized or flammable in its liquefied state. ...
Looking forward to 2020, using LNG instead of maintaining current fuel plans would reduce the global warming potential of Oahu power generation by approximately 25 percent[]. It should be noted, however, that LNG production and transport consumes more energy than oil production and transport, so the true
37 “On Evaluating Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Options for the State of Hawaii” (Final Report, January 2004) Prepared by Dr. Fereidun Fesharaki (Principal Investigator); Dr. Jeff Brown (Project Coordinator); Mr. Shahriar Fesharaki; Ms. Tomoko Hosoe; Mr. Jon Shimabukuro, for the Hawaii Energy Policy Project University of Hawai‘i at Manoa. http://www.hawaiienergypolicy.hawaii.edu/papers/Hawaii_LNG.pdf
16 reduction is closer to 15 percent when the entire production chain is taken into account.
The main disadvantage of LNG is that it would be disruptive to the existing energy infrastructure. ...
If Hawaii was developing its energy infrastructure from scratch, LNG would likely be the ideal fuel, especially given the available options. It would allow the State to limit its dependence on oil, it is clean burning, and it could serve as a useful ‘bridge’ fuel ...
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) consists almost entirely of methane, and it is the cleanest burning of all fossil fuels. The main byproducts of combustion of natural gas are carbon dioxide and water vapor. At the other end of the spectrum, coal and fuel oil both emit relatively high quantities of pollutants, including nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulfur dioxides (SO2). Combustion of these fuels may also release particulate matter into the environment. ...
Emission Levels from Combustion of Various Fossil Fuels (pounds per billion BTU of energy input)
Pollutant Natural Gas Oil Coal Carbon Dioxide 117,000 164,000 208,000 Carbon Monoxide 40 33 208 Nitrogen Oxides 92 448 457 Sulfur Dioxide 1 1,122 2,591 Particulates 7 84 2,744 Mercury 0 0.007 0.016
In 2007, the Energy Policy Forum released a second report:38
“There is a large amount of “stranded” gas in the Asia-Pacific region which could supply Hawaii, including domestic gas from Alaska. If Hawaii chooses to sign a long-term contract, it is essentially claiming proven gas reserves for its own use for 20-30 years, which is the typical time frame for a long-term contract.”39
Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) offers another option for importing and using Natural Gas within Hawai`i.
38 Evaluating Natural Gas Import Options for the State of Hawaii (April 2007) Prepared for The Hawaii Energy Policy Forum, The Hawaii Natural Energy Institute & The Office of Hawaiian Affairs by FACTS Inc. Honolulu, Hawaii https://www.eere-pmc.energy.gov/states/Hawaii_Docs/FGE- Evaluating_Natural_Gas_Import_Options_for_Hawaii-Revised.pdf 39 Id.
17 Natural Gas Impacts
The use of Natural Gas, like all other energy options - both renewable and non- renewable - has positive and negative economic, environmental, social, cultural and climate impacts.
For example, “fracking” or hydraulic fracturing, is increasingly used to extract Natural Gas. This involves sending pressurized water and chemicals into a bore hole to break up rocks, a technique that can contaminate a water table and cause earthquakes. Some natural gas extraction sites recover gas without fracking.
And in the end, spending money on creating a Natural Gas infrastructure means not spending that money on something else (avoided cost). The danger is that once Natural Gas is designated as a “bridging technology” and society learns to rely on its use as part of the energy solution, then it may become more difficult to consider other alternatives.
Geothermal
Geothermal40 (earth heat) has been known and used by people around the world for at least 10,000 years in many places, including areas currently known as Russia, Iceland, Hungary, New Zealand, United States, and Italy. In many places around the globe reservoirs of steam and hot water are trapped near the surface in areas of past volcanic activity and are brought to the surface by geysers, steam vents and hot springs. National Parks such as Yellowstone have evolved around geysers which draw millions of visitors annually. Hot Springs, Arkansas is named for spring-fed geothermal baths.
The first use of geothermal power for electricity occurred in Italy in the very early years of the 20th century. Today Iceland receives most of its power from geothermal heat and electricity plants.
The siting of geothermal facilities can have major environmental impacts, as drilling wells can disturb underground geological formations. Open-cycle geothermal facilities emit waste gases into the air, while closed-cycle geothermal facilities re- inject the waste back into the earth via injection wells, making the extent of any damage difficult to realize and/or analyze.
The operation of closed-cycle geothermal facilities usually has low environmental and greenhouse gas impacts.
40 For additional information, See: Melody Kapilialoha MacKenzie, www2.hawaii.edu/~nhlawctr/article4-1.htm; http://thefraserdomain.typepad.com/energy/geothermal; http://www.punageothermalventure.com/PGV; http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24471365/
18 Geothermal heat pump (GHP) technology exploits the nearly constant temperature of soil and groundwater near the Earth’s surface to provide highly efficient space heating, space cooling, and water heating services.
Geothermal Heat Pump41
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology conducted an extensive study, released in 2006, that explored the future impacts of Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) on the United States in the 21st Century.42 The study concluded that, "By almost any criteria, the accessible U.S. EGS resource base is enormous – greater than 13 million quads or 130,000 times the current annual consumption of primary energy in the United States.”43 The study focused only on what exists within the top 10 kilometers while recognizing that drill bits today can dig down 30 kilometers.
Geothermal Impacts
Historically, major impacts resulted from using open cycle geothermal that emitted the waste stream into the air. A potential for major impact today is the effort by geothermal proponents to secure exemptions from environmental review processes and public notification requirements; this has recently caused growing community resentment.
Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion
Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) systems create usable energy through the differential in temperature between two ocean layers. OTEC can only work in the tropics in areas without continental shelves. There are only a few hundred sites around the world where there are sharp differences in temperature layers close to the coastline and near electric transmission grids, mostly near islands.
41 http://home-heating-system.waterheatingsystem.co.uk/images/home-heating-system-accessories- 1.jpg 42 http://geothermal.inel.gov/publications/future_of_geothermal_energy.pdf 43 Id., pages 1-15.
19 OTEC can be thought of as a reverse refrigerator. OTEC systems are based on temperature differentials creating electricity, while refrigerators use electricity to create temperature differentials. Both can use the same working fluid located within a closed semi-circular piping system.
Professor Gerard Nihous, Department of Ocean and Resources Engineering, Hawaii National Marine Renewable Energy Center, has estimated that 50,000 MW of OTEC can be installed worldwide without disturbing the ocean’s dynamic energy system.44
Concentrated Solar Power
Although usually considered an intermittent source of power, Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) systems can store the heat and produce electricity hours after the sun has set, making it a source of “firm” power. CSP systems are built using aluminum and glass, but not silicon, which is sometimes scarce and costly. Unlike the more traditional flat photovoltaic panels, CSP systems use a parabolic mirror to capture the rays of the sun and to focus it on a pipe, heating its liquid contents into a gas to fire a gas turbine. One negative impact of using thermal storage is the amount of water needed for cooling purposes.
The first commercial CSP plants were built in California in the mid to late 1980s. CSP dropped out of the picture as fossil fuel prices fell, but in the 21st century renewed interest has developed in Europe and the U.S.
“CSP is being widely commercialized and the CSP market has seen about 740 MW of generating capacity added between 2007 and the end of 2010. ...A further 1.5 GW of parabolic-trough and power-tower plants were under construction in the US, and contracts signed for at least another 6.2 GW. ...The global market has been dominated by parabolic-trough plants, which account for 90 percent of CSP plants.”45
Torresol Energy’s Gemasolar, located in Fuentes de Andalucia, Seville, Spain, is the world’s first solar power plant that runs an uninterrupted 24 hours. It has a maximum output of 19.9 MW, and has 15 hours of thermal energy storage.
Continued research, development, and commercialization of CSP systems may lead to a point at which CSP units can prove to be a cost-effective replacement for Natural Gas.46
44 A Preliminary Assessment of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Resources. http://hinmrec.hnei.hawaii.edu/ongoing-projects/otec-thermal-resource/ See also http://hinmrec.hnei.hawaii.edu/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Updated-Extractable-Ocean- Thermal-Resources-2007.pdf 45 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concentrated_solar_power 46 International Energy Agency (IEA) Technology Roadmap Concentrating Solar Power (2010) http://www.iea.org/papers/2010/csp_roadmap.pdf
20 Luz CSP Facility, California47 Gemasolar CSP Facility, Spain48
Micro-CSP
SOPOGY (SOlar POwer enerGY), a Honolulu-based company founded in 2002, focuses on building small-scale concentrated solar power systems. Sopogy offers rooftop CSP, with a trough that flips over to protect itself from adverse weather conditions. The SopoHelios measures 12 feet by 7 feet and weighs 168 pounds.49 The system can be ground or roof-mounted.
The amount of electricity and thermal energy storage that can be produced on each roof is highly dependent upon the available flat roof space and the strength of the roof.
SopoHelios50
47 This line-concentrator power plant, with troughs built by Luz, is one of nine plants that have a combined output of 354 megawatts - the largest being 80 megawatts - operated by Kramer Junction Power. It is located in the Mojave Desert in Kramer Junction, California, and was built in the 1980s. During operation, oil in the receiver tubes collects the concentrated solar energy as heat and is pumped to a power block located at the power plant for generating electricity. 48 http://www.torresolenergy.com/EPORTAL_DOCS/GENERAL/SENERV2/DOC- cw4e8863a4e96cd/gemasolar-2011-12.JPG 49 http://sopogy.com/pdf/contentmgmt/p-sh-111012.pdf 50 http://sopogy.com/images/contentmgmt/SopoHelios480px.jpg
21 CSP technology families51 Line Focus Collectors track the Point Focus Collectors track sun along a single axis. the sun along two axes and focus the solar energy at a single point receiver.
Stationary Linear Fresnel Reflectors52 Towers53 devices are simpler to install and maintain
Mobile Parabolic Troughs54 Parabolic Dishes55 receivers and focusing devices move to follow the sun.
According to "Sustainable and Sensible Energy" by FRMethods (2011), “Hawaii’s abundant sunshine and the storage capabilities of Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) allow for a power source that behaves very close to a baseload (firm, not intermittent) power. ...The flexibility in design of a CSP system allows for a fraction of the land use when compared with wind and its application doesn’t irreparably damage the integrity of the land.
51 International Energy Agency (IEA) Technology Roadmap Concentrating Solar Power (2010) http://www.iea.org/papers/2010/csp_roadmap.pdf 52 http://blogs.business2.com/greenwombat/images/2007/09/10/ausra_mirrors_tilted.jpg 53 http://www1.eere.energy.gov/solar/sunshot/images/photo_csp_tower_development- solartwo_barstow_2000_low.jpg 54 http://www.renewablepowernews.com/wp-content/uploads/skytrough1.jpg 55 http://www.thegreentechnologyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2D-parabolic-dish-solar-thermal- plant1.jpg
22 Clean: Concentrated Solar Power is 100% renewable and emission free. Proven: Commercially used for over 25 years. Reliable: Abundant sunshine and storage allows technology to behave like baseload power. Footprint: Land use is 1/8th of what is required for wind and doesn’t cause irreparable damage.”
Hydropower
The most common forms of hydropower are run-of-the-stream, and in-line hydro (in which part of the stream is diverted into a pipe with a turbine at the downward end just before the water re-enters the stream). In-line hydro can be used anywhere there is water flowing through a pipe, including storm water pipes, sewage pipes, and drinking water pipes.
In the early decades of the 20th century hydropower provided almost half of the electricity produced in the U.S. Since then hydropower production has increased, while at the same time there has been an explosion in the use of oil, coal, natural gas and nuclear power. Today hydropower accounts for 10% of the nations’ energy production.
Hydroelectric plants are based on two major technologies: reaction turbines (submerged wheels) and impulse turbines (surface buckets or blades).56
The major advantage of hydroelectric power is its ability to quickly respond to changes in load and to electric grid disturbances.
Puueo Hydroelectric Plant, Hilo57
The amount of electricity that can be generated by a hydroelectric plant is related to the height of the impounded water and the flow (volume) of water.58
56 http://www.usbr.gov/power/edu/pamphlet.pdf 57 Photo by author. 58 http://www.absak.com/tech/headflow.pdf; Hydro Power (P) measured in watts = Head (H) x Flow (F) divided by 10: The Head (H) is measured in height (feet). The height is a proxy for measuring the pressure since one foot of height equals a pressure of 0.433 pounds per square inch (psi). The “head is a vertical distance. Its starting point is where the water begins to impact the pressure at the hydro
23 Biofuels
While there are numerous types of renewable energy than can create electricity, there are only a few options for transportation. Ground transportation can be powered by gasoline, biofuel, hydrogen or electricity. Air transportation can be powered by jet fuel (fossil fuel) or biofuel. Marine transportation can be powered by coal, oil, nuclear and biofuel. In the short term biofuels should be used for all transportation needs. In the longer run electricity can replace biofuels for ground and marine transportation, reserving biofuels for aviation.
Using waste oil, such as used french-fry grease, to generate biodiesel, is an effective way of reusing a waste product. Having small fields of sustainably grown crops to produce biodiesel for limited local use is also an alternative to traditional fossil fuel. Both methods can produce small amounts of biodiesel that can be used in heavy machinery and heavy industrial transportation vehicles. Ideally, the crops grown should be able to survive without irrigation (a major source of energy use) and not grown with fossil fuel-based fertilizers and pesticides; nitrogen fertilizers are a very potent greenhouse gas.
The leading biofuel producer in Hawai`i is Pacific Biodiesel. In 1996 Pacific Biodiesel started operating the first modern commercial biodiesel plant in the United States. Pacific Biodiesel started by re-using waste material at the central Maui landfill. The company then began creating sustainable biodiesel facilities that worked hand-in-hand with local farmers and local investors.
Pacific Biodiesel’s newest facility is located in Keaau, Hawai`i Island, has a capacity of 8,000 gallons per day and will utilize zero-waste, super efficient processing technology. Pacific Biodiesel has recently been reorganized, and is now called Pacific Biodiesel Technologies. The company currently manages biodiesel plants in Hawaii, Oregon and Texas.
“Pacific Biodiesel believes that “a small environmental footprint is an essential aspect of a sustainable biodiesel facility.”59 “Pacific Biodiesel facilities are designed
turbine and its ending point is where the water ceases to affect the pressure at the hydro turbine. With closed diversion systems, head is the change in elevation from the water surface at the inlet to the closed diversion system and the elevation at the turbine nozzle. Head is the most important factor in determining if [a] site is adequate for an impulse type turbine.” The flow (F) “represents volume, not speed. It is the volume of water, stated as Cubic Feet Per Second (ft3/s) or gallons per minute (GPM), that flows past a specific point in a specific amount of time.” Example: Flow = 20 gallons/minute & Head = 30 feet --> Power = (30 x 20 / 10) = 60 Watts. See also: http://smallhydro.ucdavis.edu/documentDisplay.cfm?id=2042.pdf 59 http://www.biodiesel.com/index.php/technologies/biodiesel_process_technology
24 to be the most flexible in the industry, accepting multiple feedstocks, and providing maximum scalability ... [and use] advanced waterless technologies.”60
In 2006 Pacific Biodiesel’s co-founder Kelly King, along with activist Annie Nelson and film maker Daryl Hannah, founded the Sustainable Biodiesel Alliance (SBA).61
The Gas Company62 is developing a biofuel pilot plant in West O`ahu to produce 1 million gallons a year of renewable fuel from fish oil.63
Crop Conversions64 Crop Gallons/Acre Algae 1500-3000 Palm Oil 500 Coconut 230 Soy 60-100 Sunflower 80 Hemp 26
60 http://www.biodiesel.com/index.php/technologies 61 http://test.sustainablebiodieselalliance.com/~sustai18/dev/about.shtml 62 http://www.hawaiigas.com/ 63 http://www.hawaiirenewable.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Renewable-fuel-project-uses-fish- oil-to-make-natural-gas-Hawaii-News-Honolulu-Star-Advertiser.pdf 64 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiesel
25 CHAPTER IV: VARIABLE ENERGY RESOURCES
Unlike firm baseload power, variable (intermittent) resources are available some of the time but not all of the time. When they are available, over the course of a day or year, the resource fluctuates in output from zero to its maximum.
Ocean Wave Energy
Wave Energy Systems should not be confused with waves crashing down along reefs and the coastline. Rather, they get their energy from the wave action of water rising and falling in the open ocean. The waves are generally far more predictable than wind, or even sun, which can be blocked by clouds. Thus wave energy systems are one of the most baseload or firm of the variable (intermittent) energy systems. A full scale system was built and tested off the coast of Australia in 2010. Although a powerful storm subsequently sank the unit.
The system best-suited for Hawaii is the Oceanlinx Oscillating Water Column, which can generate net energy from a six-inch ocean swell, has only one moving part, located above the water line, and uses no oils or toxic fluids; the only thing driving the turbine is air. The International Academy of Science chose the Oceanlinx system as one of the Top 10 Most Outstanding Technologies of 2006. In general, the Oceanlinx system has the lowest cost per energy output of any wave energy system. There are plans to deploy a small Oceanlinx system off the coast of Maui.
The Oceanlinx Blow-Hole (Oscillating Water Column) Wave Energy System65 consists of a compartment with water at the bottom and air on top. When a wave arrives, the water level rises and air is forced out of the blowhole. When the wave recedes, the air is sucked back into the blowhole. A two-way air turbine spins in the same direction as the air goes in and out, generating electricity.
Oceanlinx and MECO have been in negotiation for years. The utility “talks the talk” on finding alternatives to fossil fuels, but has dragged out the negotiations. In 2009 the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which oversees all hydroelectric facilities, issued a preliminary permit.66
Wave Analysis (2012)
According to the U.S. Department of Energy (January 27, 2012)67 in Tapping into Wave and Tidal Ocean Power: 15% Water Power by 2030, “The wave and tidal resource assessments, combined with preliminary results from ongoing DOE assessments of ocean current, ocean thermal, and hydropower opportunities,
65 http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/003776.html 66 Star Advertiser, Feb 12, 2012. 67 Mapping and Assessment of the United States Ocean Wace Energy Resource , EPRI Technical Report 2011 http://www1.eere.energy.gov/water/pdfs/mappingandassessment.pdf
26 indicate that water power can potentially provide 15% of our nation’s electricity by 2030. The West Coast, including Alaska and Hawaii, has especially high potential for wave energy development.”68
Waves are different in Hawai`i than in the U.S., since the Hawaii region experiences a greater variety of orientations and prevailing wave directions.
The total available wave energy resources along the U.S. outer continental shelf (at an offshore depth of 200 meters) is estimated to be 2,640 billion kWh/yr.; 130 billion kWh/yr. is located in Hawai`i.
Only part of the available wave energy is considered to be a recoverable resource (that is, it can be captured for electricity use). The recoverable resources for the U.S. is about 1,170 billion kWh/yr., of which 80 billion kWh/yr. are in Hawaii. This is eight times the statewide energy demand of 10 billion kWh/yr.
Wave Analysis (2004)
According to EPRI’s Offshore Wave Power in the US: Environmental Issues (2004)69: “Like any electrical generating facility, a wave power plant will affect the environment in which it is installed and operates. ... We conclude that, given proper care in site planning and early dialogue with local stakeholders, offshore wave power promises to be one of the most environmentally benign electrical generation technologies. We recommend that early demonstration and commercial offshore wave power plants include rigorous monitoring of the environmental effects of plants and similarly rigorous monitoring of a nearby undeveloped site in its natural state (before and after controlled impact studies.''70
In the summer of 2007 HECO hosted several meetings on ocean energy. HECO wrote a Draft Report which rejected ocean energy. The Final Report was re-written by the group and included a preface written by Life of the Land's Assistant Executive Director Kat Brady. The Ocean Energy Development Guidelines71 (July 2007) were approved by all present accept those who represented agencies and weren’t able to adopt a position within the group.
Ocean Energy Development Guidelines Preface:
68 Section 4: Results for Available Wave Energy Resource Table 4-4 Hawaii Available Wave Energy Resource by Major Island, p. 4-3 http://www.doe.gov/articles/tapping-wave-and-tidal-ocean-power- 15-water-power-2030 69 Principal Investigator: George Hagerman. Contributors: Roger Bedard (EPRI) December 21, 2004. www.epri.com/oceanenergy/attachments/wave/reports/007_Wave_Envr_Issues_Rpt 70 The EPRI 2004 Estimate for Hawaii of 300 TWh/yr and the current Estimate for the Outer Shelf of 130 TWh/yr are not comparable. EPRI's 2004 estimate for Hawaii was along the northern boundary of the U.S. as far west as the Midway Islands. The present estimate extends only as far west as Kauai, and encompassed the entire circumference of the islands (not just their northern exposure). 71 http://hawaii.gov/dcca/dca/web_references/other_sites/ocean-energy-development-guidelines- final-word.pdf
27 E Komo Mai
(Welcome),
Mahalo for considering Hawai`i as a site for your ocean energy project.
As island people we are acutely aware of climate change and its impacts, as well as our responsibility to be good global citizens by reducing our carbon emissions and footprint. Our people realize that to do this we must aggressively increase our use of local resources, such as our surrounding ocean, to produce energy. Our legislature just passed, and the Governor signed Act 234 – Hawai`i’s first bill regulating greenhouse gases.
There are several things about Hawai`i that differentiate us from any other place on the planet.
- Our values of āloha `āina (love of the land), mālama `āina (to care for and nurture the land), and mālama ke kai (to care for the ocean) are based in Hawaiian culture - Native Hawaiian rights are protected under the Hawai`i State Constitution - Our natural resources are protected under the Hawai`i State Constitution - All beaches in Hawai`i are public – meaning everyone has equal access - All submerged lands are held in trust for the people of Hawai`i - Native Hawaiians are the indigenous people of these islands - Our two official languages are Hawaiian and English - We are the most isolated archipelago on the planet - We are the most oil dependent state in the nation
A broad cross-section of our O`ahu community was convened to create a tool to help you better understand our communities, our relationship with the ocean, and the kinds of issues that are of interest to our people relating to ocean energy.
We hope that you find our efforts helpful!
After the first meeting HECO indicated a singular lack of interest.
Wind
The sun heats different parts of the earth (water, land, forests, glaciers, cement pavements) at different times (day, night, summer, winter) and at different rates. When warm air rises, colder air moves in. A wind energy system transforms the kinetic energy of the wind’s movement into mechanical power (raising water, grinding grain, pushing a sail) or into electrical power. There are two basic designs of wind electric turbines: vertical-axis (''egg-beater'') style, and the horizontal-axis (propeller-style) machines.
28 Wind power technology has been used for at least 37 centuries. “At the end of the 19th century there were more than 30,000 windmills in Europe, used primarily for the milling of grain and water pumping.”72
Horizontal and Vertical Wind Shanah Trevenna and the Saunders Hall Turbines 73 (University of Hawaii, Manoa) Vertical Axis Wind System donated by Energy Management Group
The Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) of the Department of Energy (DOE) has estimated that of the wind power resource available in the United States, 9% of the lower forty-eight states had "good" (class 4) or "excellent" (greater than class 4) wind resources, and the total amount of U.S. land with "excellent" wind characteristics, with moderate exclusions, is just over one percent of total land area. This would support approximately 3,500 gigawatts (GW) of wind capacity, with nearly eight megawatts (MW) of rated capacity per square kilometer. The rated (peak) wind capacity of 3,500 GW is about five times the 713 GW of 1999 installed conventional utility and non-utility generating capacity in the United States.74
The potential wind power resource of the US, or what could be developed without incurring undue noise, and adverse impacts to birds, visibility or health, is estimated to be between twice to ten times the entire electricity consumption of the U.S.75
The use of only wind energy in conjunction with batteries (storage) could achieve energy self-sufficiency for all of our energy needs: i.e., heat, light, electricity and transportation.
72 http://practicalaction.org/docs/technical_information_service/wind_electricity_generation.pdf 73 www.awea.org/faq/wwt_basics.html 74 www.thegreenpowergroup.org/wind.html 75 Id.
29 Ironically, fossil fuel-based utilities favor wind systems because they require the utility to keep large amounts of spinning reserve. That is because utilities using fossil fuel must be ready to ramp up to match the load (demand) when there is a sudden drop in available wind. HECO is spending $2,400,000,000 ($2.4B) over a period of six years to upgrade its generators to handle wind fluctuations. These costs are not reflected in the price of purchasing wind from independent producers, but are hidden in rate cases. Thus ratepayers pay for both wind and the fossil fuel used when the wind dies down. Utilities can appear to be “talking the talk” (sounding green) while walking the same old walk: maintaining and enhancing fossil fuel use.
HECO’s current plans to modernize its aging 19th century technology structure focuses primarily, but not exclusively, on generation, transmission and distribution, so that its large scale central station distribution system can be maintained while integrating intermittent renewable energy systems into the utility’s grids. This costly upgrade excludes the so-called “Big Wind” proposal to take 200MW each of intermittent wind power from the islands of Moloka`i and Lana`i and send it via a billion-dollar undersea cable to the load center in O`ahu.
Capital Expenditures Budget ($M) (2012-15)76 HECO HELCO MECO
Transmission & Distribution 536 133 145 Generation 841 25 52 Other Total 1,800 300 300
Installing smaller wind facilities in different wind regimes decreases the impacts caused by wind fluctuations. Building one or two large industrial wind facilities requires fossil fuel plants to be reconfigured to be able to match winds variability. It also requires greater manpower and oversight.77
For Hawai`i this implies that small rooftop and stand-alone wind systems might be more effective than industrial scale facilities: just as wind gains speed as it rises
76 HECO, MECO and HELCO Application, dated March 31, 2011, for Approval of Issuance of Unsecured Obligations and Guarantee. Docket 2011-0068. Capital Expenditures Program, (2010-2015). HECO: pdf page 53, MECO: pdf page 73, HELCO: pdf page 93. 77 What's Keeping Me Up at Night - The Political Economy of Wind, Chairman Travis Kavulla, Montana Public Service Commission (February 16, 2012). Monthly Essays. National Regulatory Research Institute (NRRI). NRRI was founded by the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) in 1976. http://communities.nrri.org/monthly-essays- detail;jsessionid=64140F78E5A0DF35FE04CBDF8B32083D?p_p_id=33&p_p_lifecycle=0&p_p_col_id=c olumn- 1&p_p_col_pos=1&p_p_col_count=2&_33_struts_action=%2Fblogs%2Fview_entry&_33_redirect=351 516&_33_linkFullViewPage=351516&_33_linkListViewPage=351442&p_r_p_564233524_displayDateFr om=&p_r_p_564233524_displayDateTo=&_33_cur=&_33_entryId=357113
30 over mountains, so to it gains speed as it rises over buildings. Small wind systems could be installed on 1,000s of rooftops.
Small wind turbines A “Windsave” micro turbine Rooftop wind turbines on a on the roof of an installed on a rooftop in building in Bosnia1 (Veneko/ office in London. 78 Scotland.79 Bergey Windpower)80
Of course, rooftops could be used for multiple renewable energy systems: solar water heaters, photovoltaic panels or concentrated solar power, and micro-wind, thereby maximizing each building’s on-site generation.
The major determinants in the amount of wind energy that can be harnessed are the average speed of the wind, the consistency of the wind, and the volume swept by the turbine blades.81
Wind Energy Impacts
All energy projects have positive and negative economic, environmental, social, cultural and climate impacts, and industrial-scale wind plants are no exception.
Often wind sites are selected and sited in rural communities, where demand is small, while the power generated must be transmitted at great expense over long distances to urban centers with higher demand. The aesthetic impacts in rural areas
78 Renewable Energy World. January / February 2007. http://www.thailand- energy.info/News/34001132.htm 79 Ibid. 80 Ibid. 81 http://practicalaction.org/docs/technical_information_service/wind_electricity_generation.pdf; “The power equation: P = (ρ x A x V cubed)/2 -- where, P is power in watts (W), ρ is the air density in kilograms per cubic meter (kg/m3), A is the swept rotor area in square meters (m2), V is the wind speed in meters per second (m/s) -- gives us the power in the wind, the actual power that we can extract from the wind is significantly less than this figure suggests. The actual power will depend on several factors, such as the type of machine and rotor used, the sophistication of blade design, friction losses, and the losses in the pump or other equipment connected to the wind machine. There are also physical limits to the amount of power that can be extracted realistically from the wind. It has been shown theoretically that any windmill can only possibly extract a maximum of 59.3% of the power from the wind (this is known as the Betz limit). In reality, this figure is usually around 45% (maximum) for a large electricity producing turbine and around 30% to 40% for a wind pump.”
31 are often dismissed by urban residents as being NIMBYism in the face of greater good for everyone.
Turbine manufacturing also relies on magnets made from trace minerals that are mined in non-environmentally friendly ways. China is now the world leader in wind turbine production. Inner Mongolia has “more than ninety per cent of the world’s legal reserves of rare earth metals, specifically neodymium, the element needed to make the magnets ...[for] wind turbines.” The extraction and processing of neodymium in Inner Mongolia has proven to be an environmental nightmare.82
Solar (Photovoltaic)
Earth:83 “Each day more solar energy falls to Solar Ledge: PV awnings at the the Earth than the total amount of energy the University of Texas.85 planet’s 6.1 billion inhabitants would consume in 27 years.”84
The Potential of Solar
The sun strikes every square meter of our planet with more than 1,360 watts of power each day. Half of that energy is absorbed by the atmosphere or reflected back into space. Seven hundred watts of power, on average, reach Earth’s surface. Summed across the half of the Earth that the sun is shining on, that is 89
82 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1350811/In-China-true-cost-Britains-clean-green- wind-power-experiment-Pollution-disastrous-scale.html 83 http://rst.gsfc.nasa.gov/Sect16/full-20earth2.jpg 84 National Renewable Energy Laboratories. www.nrel.gov/documents/solar_energy.html 85 Completed in the fall of 2000, this 7-kilowatt photovoltaic awning is situated above the 8th floor windows of the 26-story University Center Tower on the Texas Medical Center campus in Houston, Texas. The awning serves a dual purpose: the SunSine® AC modules supply about 10,000 kilowatts of electricity annually, and the shading they provide offsets an air-conditioning load of an additional 2,600 kilowatts. By installing this system, the Houston Health Science Center is helping Texas to meet its aggressive mandate for 2,000 megawatts of new renewable power by 2009, which is part of the state's electric utility restructuring plan. The University of Texas Health Science Center partnered with Applied Power Corp. and Conservation Services Group on this project.
32 petrawatts of power per day. By comparison, all of human civilization uses around 15 terrawatts of power per day, or one six-thousandth as much as the sun produces. In fourteen and a half seconds, the sun provides as much energy to Earth as humanity uses in a day.
In eighty-eight minutes, the sun provides 470 exajoules of energy, as much energy as humanity consumes in a year. In 112 hours – less than five days – it provides 36 zettajoules of energy – as much energy as is contained in all proven reserves of oil, coal, and natural gas on the planet.
If humanity could capture one tenth of one percent of the solar energy striking the earth – one part in one thousand – we would have access to six times as much energy as we consume in all forms today, with almost no greenhouse gas emissions. At the current projected increase in energy consumption – about one percent per year – we will not be using that much energy for another 180 years.
There is at most 30 gigawatts of solar generating capacity deployed today, or about 0.2 percent of all energy production.86
Solar Radiation Maps
The Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT) publishes solar radiation maps that use isobars measured in calories87 per square centimeter per day (cal./sq. cm./day). These values can be converted into practicable numbers88 of: 100 cal./sq. cm./day = 39.5 kWh/sq. ft./year
Thus, a residence which uses 600kWhr/month (7200 kWhr/year) and is located in an area which receives 400 cal./sq. cm./day of solar radiation would require 45 square feet of solar panels.
If the residence were net metered to the grid, the ratepayer could send excessive solar electricity to the grid during the day, and take out electricity during the night, paying only on the difference, which in this case would be near zero, although the utility charges a minimum monthly fee for maintaining the interconnection to the grid.
Clouds, vog, and shadows all decrease available incoming solar energy. The best sites in Hawai`i are leeward island areas. Mauka and windward areas have solar radiation levels in the 300 to 350 cal./sq. cm/day. Leeward areas have levels in the range of 400 to 500 cal./sq. cm/day. Each day Hawai`i gets an average of 5.5 hours of full sunshine. It is during this period that solar electric systems are most effective.89
86 Smaller, Cheaper, Faster, by Ramez Naam (Scientific American, 2011). 87 Calories is an old energy term first used in 1824 and still used to measure solar radiation 88 http://www.heco.com/vcmcontent/FileScan/PDFConvert/McGowin.pdf; https://www.google.com/intl/en/help/features.html#calculator 89 Energy Conservation Improvements Feasibility Study of Rooftop Photovoltaic (PV) Systems for Various Corporate Yards (2009) Submitted to the Mayor's Energy & Sustainability Task Force
33 The Cost of Solar
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, which has been watching solar photovoltaic price trends since 1980, states that the price per watt of solar modules (not counting installation) dropped from $22 dollars in 1980 down to under $3 today.
“Berkeley Lab’s ‘Tracking the Sun’ report described trends in the installed cost of PV in the United States, and examined more than 115,000 residential, commercial and utility-sector PV systems installed between 1998 and 2010 across 42 states, representing roughly seventy-eight percent of all grid-connected PV capacity installed in the United States.
The average cost of PV systems installed in 2010 that were less than ten kilowatts (kW) in size, ranged from $6.30/W to $8.40/W depending on the state. The report also found that residential PV systems installed on new homes had significantly lower average installed costs than those installed as retrofits to existing homes. Among systems installed in 2010, that were less than two kilowatts, averaged $9.80/W, while large commercial systems >1,000 kW averaged $5.20/W. Large utility-sector systems installed in 2010 registered even lower costs, with a number of systems in the $3.00/W to $4.00/W range.
The reduced value of federal, state, and utility incentives in 2010 partially offset the decline in installed costs.”90
The trend line for the price of solar panel is markedly downward. A slight bump in prices (2005-08) was caused by a temporary shortage of raw materials. The expectation is that prices will continue to fall over the next two decades.91
By Ronald N.S. Ho & Associates, Inc. http://honolulu.groupsite.com/file_cabinet/download/0x00000f592 90 http://newscenter.lbl.gov/news-releases/2011/09/15/tracking-the-sun-iv/ 91 http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2011/03/16/smaller-cheaper-faster-does-moores- law-apply-to-solar-cells/
34 Solar Installations
There are many examples of successful large-scale photovoltaic projects around the globe. Sempra Generation’s 48MW Copper Mountain Solar 1 (currently the largest photovoltaic plant in the U.S.) is located on 380-acres about 20 miles southeast of Las Vegas,92 and Sempra is building “Mesquite Solar 1,” a 150 MW solar facility, on 900 acres (1.5 square miles) some 40 miles west of Phoenix.93
In addition to large scale projects, significant amounts of small-scale solar can be placed on roof tops. For example, KPMG, the auditor for Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. (HEI), found that existing rooftops in the Netherlands could provide 29% of the nation’s electrical needs.94
Indeed, worldwide use of PV is skyrocketing. The worldwide installed capacity for solar PV was 40 gigawatts in 2010, up from 9.5 in 2007, 1.4 in 2000, and a mere 0.7 in 1996. Europe added more PV than wind capacity during 2010, led by Germany and Italy. Solar installations are now concentrated in a few countries, and the U.S. (6%) ranks fifth behind Germany (44%), Spain (10%), Japan (9%), and Italy (9%).95
92 http://www.powermag.com/renewables/solar/4188.html 93 http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sempra-generation-energizes-42-mw-of-solar-panels- at-mesquite-solar-1-136269253.html 94 Solar Energy: from perennial promise to competitive alternative - final report - Project number: 2562. Written on the commission of: Greenpeace Nederland By KPMG Bureau voor Economische Argumentatie, Steins Bisschop Meijburg & Co Advocaten 95 http://www.ren21.net/Portals/97/documents/GSR/REN21_GSR2011.pdf
35 Again, according to "Sustainable and Sensible Energy": “By using existing rooftops of residential, commercial and industrial structures, the customer can utilize power generated at the source, so no power losses are realized in distribution as is the case for centralized power, where energy use and demand is often far away from the power source. Also, the existing roof spaces provide a site that is already developed, so no agricultural or culturally sensitive land is used for power generation.”
Solar Energy Impacts
China produces more than half of the world’s solar panels. High efficiency solar cells are made from Gallium arsenide (GaAs). In China, arsenic is extracted, processed, and used with little consideration of its environmental and health impacts. “Water consumed by people in China contains dangerous levels of arsenic.” 96 In addition, “About one third of the industrial waste water and more than ninety percent of household sewage in China is released into rivers and lakes without being treated. Nearly eighty percent of China's cities (278 of them) have no sewage treatment facilities and few have plans to build any; underground water supplies in ninety percent of the cites are contaminated.”97
96 http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=391&catid=10&subcatid=66; See also: Officials claim ignorance of arsenic pollution in Yangzonghai Lake http://www.china.org.cn/environment/news/2008- 09/22/content_16516593.htm 97 Id.
36 CHAPTER V: STORAGE
This section deals with storage that may be located near intermittent loads but is not part of the intermittent load. Thus it excludes Concentrated Solar Power which produces electricity for immediate use and heat for future production of electricity.
There are several ways of storing energy. For example, air can be compressed into a balloon structure and then released as needed. Hydropower is also an effective way to store energy: water can be pumped uphill, between reservoirs, and released when it is needed. While both methods provide short-term “firming” power solutions to handle small variations in demand, if the energy source is intermittent and of large size, the size of the storage systems would have to be very huge to handle fluctuations on days of hot, cloudy, windless weather.
With respect to transportation, lithium ion batteries are already used to power electric vehicles, laptops, cell phones and power tools. Rechargeable lithium ion batteries can reliably deliver driving distances of over 100 miles on a single charge. The batteries can be recharged in the same amount of time that they were used for driving.
“When it comes to energy storage...If you're talking big hours and big megawatts, if you're going to be moving a lot of low cost night time energy to daytime, if you're talking hundreds of megawatts... Then you really only have two choices, Pumped Hydro or Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) according to EPRI, the Electric Power Research Institute. Lithium-ion might be good for cells phones and perhaps EVs. Flywheels for short bursts of storage. New technologies like flow batteries are emerging but they're still a ways from utility-scale prime time cost requirements. Pumped hydro is very site-specific and very little new pumped hydro sources have come on line in the last decade. That leaves you with CAES.”98
Wind-Pumped Storage Hydro (WPSH)
Windmills, which have been used to pump water since before the last millennium, have been favorably paired with PSH facilities. During periods when excess energy is produced but not needed on a grid, (such as wind energy which is typically stronger at night when the demand is least), water can be pumped from a lower water source (aquifer, pond or ocean) to be stored in an upper water source. Then, when added power is needed, the water is released downward through a turbine.
“Windmills were used to pump water since at least the 9th century in what is now Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. ... On U.S. farms, particularly in the Midwest, wind pumps were used to pump water from farm wells for cattle. ...The self-regulating farm wind pump was invented by Daniel Halladay in 1854. ... Eventually steel blades and steel towers replaced wooden construction, and at their peak in 1930,
98 EPRI on Renewable Energy: Compressed Air Energy Storage http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/epri-on-renewable-energy-compressed-air-energy- storage/
37 an estimated 600,000 units were in use, with capacity equivalent to 150 megawatts.”99
Pumped Storage Hydroelectric100
HECO’s website acknowledges storage as one of its most significant challenges: “One of the greatest technical and commercial obstacles for renewable energy is energy storage. Whether a renewable energy source is available or strongest only at certain times of day – like solar and wind – or available 24 hours a day – like wave energy or run-of-the-river hydro – making that electricity accessible when it is needed most is a challenge that must be overcome.”
HECO has analyzed thirteen energy storage systems and noted that only one is a commercially proven technology: pumped storage hydro. “Pumped Storage Hydroelectric (PSH) is a proven form of energy storage for electric utilities. There are over 150 plants with 22,000 MW of capacity in the United States.”101
HECO: “Studies have explored the possibilities of PSH at Koko Crater and Kaau Crater; on Hawaii Island at Puu Waawaa and Puu Anahulu in North Kona, Puu Enuhe in Kau and at Kaupulehu/Kukio. On Maui, sites for PSH have been considered at Maalaea, Honokowai in the Kaanapali area, Kohama near Lahaina and upcountry at Ulupalakua.”102
99 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windpump 100http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/learning/bitesize/standard/physics/images/hydroelectric_power_stat ion.gif 101 http://www.heco.com/ “Electric storage systems on a large or utility scale are at different stages of technical and commercial development.” (A) Commercial: Pumped Hydro; (B) Pre-commercial Prototype: (1) Compressed Air; (2) Lead-Acid Battery; (3) Ni-Cad Battery; (4) Sodium-Sulfur Battery; (5) Flywheel; (C) Demonstration Stage: (1) Zinc-Bromine Battery; (2) Flywheel; (3) Vanadium Redox Battery; (4) Electrochemical capacitor; (D) Developmental Stage: (1) NiMH Battery; (2) Lithium-Ion Battery; (3) Electrochemical capacitor 102 http://www.heco.com/portal/site/heco/menuitem.508576f78baa14340b4c0610c510b1ca/?vgnextoid=
38 Some sources estimate that the world has 104,000 MW of PSH capacity.103
The California Energy Commission states that PSH is the most economical means of energy storage because it provides balancing, reserves and grid stability [for grid operators]... It is a proven, reliable technology with a fifty to one hundred year design life. The benefits of a Closed Loop Pumped Storage System is that it is a self-contained “off-stream” water system that uses existing infrastructure and minimizes environmental impacts, resulting in shorter permitting time.104
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory notes that, “Pumped Storage Hydropower (PSH) is the only conventional, mature commercial grid-scale electricity storage option available today. ...Total installed U.S. PSH capacity exceeds 21,000 MW, constituting about 2.5% of total generating capacity. Other countries and regions have surpassed the U.S. About 5% of the European Union’s total capacity is pumped storage hydro, and its percentage is growing; Japan – currently the world’s leader in pumped storage, has 10% of its capacity as pumped storage. Worldwide, many pumped storage plants are under construction. At the end of 2009, total installed pumped storage capacity exceeded 127,000 MW; this worldwide total is expected to exceed 203,000 MW by 2014 – an annual growth rate of 10%. ...
PSH provides services that support efficient transmission of electric power and grid reliability and stability. The electrical services used in this role are typically referred to as “ancillary services” and defined as various types of “reserves,” “black start capabilities,” voltage and frequency regulation and other contingency reserves. Owing to rapid response and large energy storage capabilities, PSH can readily provide these services. For example, pumped storage can quickly accommodate disturbances that occur on transmission grids – loss of generators, failure of transmission lines...
In Japan, for more than two decades it has been common practice to incorporate variable speed pump-turbine generators in pumped storage plants. Such units are now in use in other countries, especially in Europe. In addition, unidirectional ‘three-element’ (ternary) machines have been installed wherein there is no change in the rotational direction, allowing the units to move rapidly from full pumping to full generation unlike a reversible machine where the machines are required to stop before restarting in the opposite direction (and vice versa).
94600420af0db110VgnVCM1000005c011bacRCRD&vgnextchannel=ab020420af0db110VgnVCM10000 05c011bacRCRD&vgnextfmt=default&vgnextrefresh=1&level=0&ct=article 103 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumped_storage_hydroelectric 104 The Use of Large Scale Pumped Hydro -Energy Storage for Grid Reliability, Renewable Integration and Renewable Load Shifting. IEPR Staff Workshop Technologies to Support Renewable Integration (Energy Storage and Automated Demand Response) November 16, 2010 http://www.energy.ca.gov/2011_energypolicy/documents/2010-11- 16_workshop/presentations/05_Divine_The_Use_of_Large_Scale_Pumped_Hydro.pdf
39 Large amounts of additional bulk electricity storage are needed within the U.S. electricity supply system.”105
Hydrogen from wind
Most of the hydrogen produced in the United States (95%) is made from fossil fuel. Another way of making hydrogen is electrolysis, whereby hydrogen atoms are separated from water. The hydrogen can be stored and used later to fortify fuel for power generation, or used in fuel cells. Additional research is being conducted by NREL and Xcel Energy on wind-to-hydrogen (Wind2H2) demonstration projects.106
Wind energy is generated and sold to the utility during the day and evening (6 a.m. – 10 p.m.). Wind turbines are turned off at night since the utility does not need the energy produced when demand drops off, but the utility will not permit the wind company to sell the energy to a third party. This is unfortunate, since the wasted energy could be used to generate hydrogen.
The production of hydrogen need not be at the site of the wind farm, because computers could, in real time, exactly match the wind-based electricity supplied to the grid at one site and electricity removed from the grid at another site.
105 Summary Report of the 2010 Technology Summit Meeting on Pumped Storage Hydropower. Convened by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the National Hydropower Association, and the Hydropower Research Foundation, Washington, DC, (September 20-21, 2010) http://www.esd.ornl.gov/WindWaterPower/PSHSummit.pdf 106 http://www.nrel.gov/hydrogen/proj_wind_hydrogen.html
40 CHAPTER VI: MOLOKA`I
Molokai was once known as “`āina momona,” the bountiful land.107 It is thirty-eight by ten miles in size with a land area of 260 square miles. In 2010 Molokai had a total population of 7,345. There were 4,642 Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islanders (63% of the island’s population). The major population centers are Kaunakakai (3,425) and Kualapuʻu (2,027).108
Today Moloka`i has all of the resources it needs to become energy self-sufficient and to stop exporting cash for transportation fuel and electricity.
Although there are many sites on Moloka`i that could support renewable energy systems, coastal areas, sensitive habitat, cultural sites and areas of significant view planes should be excluded from consideration.
107 Front Cover: http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/HMRG/multibeam/products/Hawaii_Islands_V18_HiRes.jpg 108 http://www.city-data.com/city/West-Molokai-Hawaii.html#ixzz1ii7vn4mF; http://mauinow.com/2011/04/10/census-says-maui-racial-mix-50-50-white-asian/
41 Solar is the strongest renewable energy resource for Moloka`i. The first choice should be solar water heaters followed by concentrated solar power and photovoltaic panels. This can be supplemented with micro wind, and hydroelectric. Pumped Storage hydro can firm up variable resources.
Molokai: Future of a Hawaiian Island (2008)109
A 2008 Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate report suggested that Moloka`i should “create programs that help to finance stand-alone power systems for homes and businesses. ...Integrate renewable energy components into new home and business construction.”
On transportation, the report added: “The scale of Molokai’s roadways and the limited number of destination points make conversion to renewable transportation feasible. Although there are several alternatives on the horizon, affordable technology for rechargeable electric automobiles generated through renewable energy sources such as wind and solar is a technology that is available now. Charging the batteries to power these cars could take place at home or at collective charging stations in each community.”110 The report concluded that Molokai should:
• Develop infrastructure to support rechargeable electric automobiles.
• Build community charging stations at Maunaloa, Kaunakakai, Kualapu`u, and Mana`e.
• Support businesses providing parts, sales, conversions, maintenance, and repair for renewable energy vehicles.
• Create programs to help finance automobile conversions and purchases.
• Promote public transportation powered by renewable energy.
• Seek grants to help facilitate research and design.
109 http://www.ksbe.edu/spi/Hulili/Hulili_vol_5/Molokai_Future_of_a_Hawaiian_Island.pdf 110 Id.
42 • Explore other viable energy sources for transportation.
Regarding water, the report stated: “Convert/build wells and pumps for water transmission powered by renewable energy, including wind, solar, and in-line hydro water turbine generators.”111
A STEP FURTHER: A Moloka`i Energy Cooperative?
Communities can create a network based on a non-profit public-interest cooperative concept. Cooperatives are able to secure grants and donations from governmental agencies and foundations to fund the transition from exporting cash for fuel to island self-sufficiency. A cooperative can pool money, secure long-term financing for renewable energy projects, and employ local residents to assist in the transition. An on-bill financing program allows a cooperative to finance the purchase of renewable energy systems and energy efficient devices through energy savings provided by such systems or devices. That is to say, photovoltaic systems cost a lot of money up front, but if the cooperative rather than the resident buys the system, the ratepayer can make payments that are less than their current bill and after the system is paid off, they would own it.
Similarly, a cooperative can purchase electric vehicles in bulk and lease them to its members. The cost to operate the electric vehicle is less than the cost to operate gasoline-powered cars.
A Moloka`i Cooperative could work with the Aha Kiole Advisory Committee (created by Act 212-2007), the Aha Moku Council System, and community organizations to advise it on Native Hawaiian resource management practices; derive a comprehensive set of native Hawaiian best practices for natural resource management; foster understanding and practical utilization of this knowledge; ensure the future sustainable use of marine, land, cultural, agricultural and natural resources; enhance community education and cultural awareness; and participate in the protection and preservation of Moloka`i’s natural resources.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utility Service (RUS) lent Kauai Island Utility Cooperative over $100 million to purchase their electric utility from a U.S. mainland company.
Cooperative Principles
Voluntary and Open Membership Democratic Member Members’ Economic Participation Autonomy and Independence Education, Training, and Information
111 Id.
43 Cooperation Among Cooperatives—Cooperatives serve their members most effectively and strengthen the cooperative movement by working together through the ahupua`a and the moku Concern for Community
Solar (Photovoltaic)
Molokai General Hospital. Island of Molokai Middle School.113 Lana`i in background.112
112 http://molokainews.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/dsc_0145.jpg?w=468&h=310
44 The general rule is that five acres of flat sunny land or roof area is needed to generate 1 MW of solar energy.
Wind
Wind is the second strongest resource for Moloka`i. Not large industrial scale wind, but rather small micro turbines. The best site for strong wind resources is east of Kaunakakai.114
Micro wind is in its infancy, and would probably supply a very small percentage of the renewable energy mix.
113 http://www.helcohi.com/vcmcontent/StaticFiles/Images/Molokai_SPS_1.JPG 114 http://www.lifeofthelandhawaii.org/maps/Maui_Wind_Power_Density.pdf
45 Hydropower
As noted earlier, solar and wind resources can both be firmed up (or fluctuations smoothed out) with hydropower. Moloka`i could install in-line hydro facilities on its energy delivery systems (fresh water, irrigation water) as well as use its large lakes/reservoirs for pumped storage hydro.
The town of Kualapu`u, situated next to the Kualapu`u cinder cone, has a 1.4 billion gallon fresh water reservoir. Other large water bodies are Meyer Lake and Maunaloa Reservoir. The lakes could be used for pumped storage hydro. Several water distribution systems exist: Maui County Department of Water Services, the DHHL Molokai Water System (Palaau-Ho’olehua Homestead), and the 25-mile Moloka`i Irrigation System (MIS). Adding an 85-kW mini-hydropower plant to a water delivery pipeline on Hawaii’s Molokai Island is both technically and economically feasible.
It is probably reasonable to assume that Pumped Storage Hydro and in-stream hydro could supply a quarter of Moloka`i’s energy load.
Biomass/Biofuels
Solar and wind resources can also be firmed up with biomass/biofuels. Agricultural and biomass opportunities exist in the Palaau region. An acre of land could produce 20-80 gallons of biodiesel. The exact amount would depend on what farmers felt was appropriate.
Fuel Cells powered by Natural Gas
Fuel cells powered by natural gas can be used to stabilize fluctuations in power generation by intermittent energy sources, and to provide additional baseload power.
Fuel cells are now available for the public. Cutting edge technology is being rolled out by companies such as Clear Edge Power, United Technologies, and Bloom Energy, as new natural gas reserves are being discovered.115
“Bloom Energy, a Silicon Valley based start-up has created quite a stir in the energy industry. It is about to launch its Bloom Box - A fuel cell based energy technology which will generate relatively affordable and clean energy. Top companies like Google, eBay, Lockheed Martin, WalMart, and Bank of America are already testing the device.”116
115 http://www.nogridusa.org/fuel-cells 116 http://tekchat.blogspot.com/2010/02/bloom-box-disruptive-energy-device-by.html
46 Bloom Energy Servers are about as tall as an adult and can use virtually any hydrocarbon fuel. Bloom Energy will revolutionize the power generation industry by cutting out the middle-man (the grid).117
Appendix: Moloka`i Technical Profile118
Moloka`i has a single power plant (Palaau) with nine diesel units and one combined cycle generator. Palaau Units 1 and 2 (two 1,250 kW Caterpillar units), and Palaau Units 3, 4, 5 and 6 (four 970 kW Cummins units) are peaking units. Moloka`i has five circuits (distribution lines) including one running from Kaunakakai to Halawa.119
Molokai's 2010 system peak of 5.7 MW (gross) occurred on December 27, 2010.
Molokai had a 2010 reserve margin of approximately 111%. Molokai could rely on a combination of hydro, biomass/biofuel and batteries for half of its power generation and solar/wind for the other half.
117 http://www.dailytech.com/Bloom+Energy+Unveils+Energy+Servers+Looks+to+Revolutionize+Power +Industry/article17770.htm 118 MECO Adequacy of Supply 2010: http://www.mauielectric.com/vcmcontent/GenerationBid/MECO/2011MECOAOS.pdf; http://www.mauielectric.com/vcmcontent/MECO/RenewableEnergy/IRP/MECO_05_0128_AGMtg_SYSP OWERSUPPLY_revised07.pdf; Sandia National Labs: http://www.sandia.gov/segis/IEEE%20Presentations_Addendium/Lanai%20Addendum/Island%20Ener gy%20Storage%20AKHIL.pdf 119 http://themolokaidispatch.com/east-molokai-solar-limits-reached
47 CHAPTER VII: LANA`I
Lana`i120
Solar is the strongest resource for Lana`i. The first choice should be solar water heaters followed by concentrated solar power, solar photovoltaic panels, and micro wind. Liquified Natural Gas can firm up the variable resources.
Lana`i is the smallest of the main Hawaiian islands, with an area of 141 square miles; it runs 18 miles by 13 miles. The population in 2012 was estimated to be about 2,800. There are approximately 1,600 households, and the primary land owner, David Murdock, through Castle and Cooke, owns all but one commercial building and half of the 1,000 homes in Lana`i City. In 2010 Lana`i had a total population of 3,135. There were 2,368 people of Asian and part-Asian race (76% of the island’s population).121
120 http://1800sunstar.com/GFX/icons/zmap-lanai.jpg 121 http://mauinow.com/2011/04/10/census-says-maui-racial-mix-50-50-white-asian/
48 Lana`i has one large solar facility. According to Castle and Cooke, owners of the facility, the 1.5 MW “La Ola” solar plant has been in service on Lanai since December 2008. It “generates 3,000 MWh of electricity per year, which is about 30% of Lanai’s daytime peak demand or 10% of Lanai’s annual demand. The power generated from La Ola Solar Farm equals the use of 5,000 barrels of oil or 237,000 gallons of gasoline and eliminates 2,300 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.”122
The solar energy generated can be smoothed out by the building of a natural gas powered generator. The combined solar-gas generation would act as baseload energy, thus creating room on the circuit for the installation of extensive amounts of residential solar systems.
La Ola Solar Farm, Lana`i123 Lana`i High and Elementary School124
There are several sites on Lana`i that could support additional renewable energy systems, however, coastal areas, sensitive habitat, cultural sites and areas with significant view planes should be excluded from consideration.
Appendix: Lana’i Technical Profile125
Lana`i has one electric power facility, the Miki Basin Power Plant, located in Palawai Basin. The facility has six 1.0 MW EMD Diesel Generators and two 2.2 MW Caterpillar Diesel for a total of 10.4 MW.
122 Christopher Lovvorn, Castle & Cooke Resorts, LLC at Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) workshop on renewable energy grid integration systems, March, 2009. 123 http://www.sandia.gov/regis/photos/P1150239.JPG 124 http://www.heco.com/vcmcontent/images/spfs/LanaiSPS_033106_1244.jpg 125 MECO Adequacy of Supply 2010: http://www.mauielectric.com/vcmcontent/GenerationBid/MECO/2011MECOAOS.pdf Sandia National Labs: http://www.sandia.gov/segis/IEEE%20Presentations_Addendium/Lanai%20Addendum/Island%20Ener gy%20Storage%20AKHIL.pdf
49 Lana’i had a 2010 system peak of 4.825 MW (gross) on December 27, 2010, and had a 2010 reserve margin of approximately 112%.
There are three circuits distributing electricity from the power plant: Circuit # 1 feeds Lana`i City, the Project District at Koele, and one of the island’s well operations. Circuit #2 feeds Lana`i City, the remaining wells, Kaumalapau Harbor and the Airport. Circuit #3 is dedicated to the Manele Project District and connects with the 1.2 MW La Ola Solar Facility.
The La Ola solar facility was intended to include a flow battery that could generate 250 kW/hr. for three hours. However, the battery manufacturer, VRB, went out of business in 2008 and a replacement installed by Xtreme Power is not yet fully functional.
The 236-room Manele Bay Hotel has a CHP unit126, which offsets energy use and costs; approximately 800 kWh are added to the grid each day.
There are approximately 1,500 single and multifamily residences on the island, 500 of which are owned by Castle and Cooke. If each single family residence supported a PV system or micro wind system, 7200 kwh/yr. of fossil fuel use could be avoided.
Similarly, the potential for bio-fuel and CSP is great, as thousands of acres that used to be dedicated to pineapple production now lie fallow; the potential for biofuels to replace diesel would require approximately 2000 acres of the 12,000 that used to be dedicated to pineapple.
Reality
As noted, except for the coastline, which is public, the island has been largely owned by one person for over a hundred years. Biofuel production would require this individual to promote island sustainability at the same time he is focused on building a massive industrial-scale wind power plant on the island and exporting the power to O`ahu via an undersea cable.
Therefore a more practical solution might be installing on-site solar/bloom boxes as a way of disengaging from the grid.
126 CHP is “combined heat and power” plant that, when optimized, feeds a chiller to operate air conditioning at the Manele Bay Hotel, and could also provide energy for the hotel’s water heating system.
50 CHAPTER VIII: HAWAI`I ISLAND
Map127
127 http://1.bp.blogspot.com/- SbwVBVbBP7M/Taob2_iuWSI/AAAAAAAAADk/tNyDMdL7SRA/s1600/Hawaii_map_%2528The_Big_Islan d%2529.jpg
51 Hawai`i Island
Hawai`i Island (“The Big Island”) is a volcanic island (the eastern-most and southern-most in the Hawaiian islands chain). The island is 93 miles across and has a land area of 4,028 square miles comprising 62% of the Hawaiian Islands' land area, and is the largest island in the United States. In 2010, the Big Island had a population of 185,000.
Measured from its sea floor base to its highest peak, Mauna Kea, it is the world's tallest mountain, taller than Mount Everest. The island has five shield volcanoes: Kohala (extinct), Mauna Kea (dormant), Hualalai (active but not currently erupting), Mauna Loa (active) and Kilauea (erupting continuously since 1983).128
The island of Hawai`i has a wide variety of abundant renewable resources including solar, wind, and geothermal. The first choice should be installing solar water heaters. Geothermal can serve as the continuous baseload renewable energy resource.
Baseload Energy - Geothermal
Geothermal exploration began in Hawaii in the 1960s and the first geothermal well was dug in Puna in 1976. During the 1980s geothermal provided 3 MW of power to the Big Island grid. From 1982-1990, the State of Hawaii and the U.S. Department of Energy sought to build a 500 MW inter-island submarine cable from the Big Island to Maui through the 6,000 foot deep Alenuihaha Channel. From there the cable would bring geothermal power to O`ahu. The proposed cable ultimately proved to be uneconomical at that time.
128 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaii_(island)
52 Geothermal Zones129 Area Description/Location Resource. (For the purposes of this report, we have considered the 10th percentile MW value to be a minimum; there is a 90% probability that geothermal energy reserves will exceed this level for the area being evaluated.)
Hualalai Approx. 5-mile section The calculated 10th percentile value of of the northwestern rift reserves is 7 MW, and the mean value zone of the volcano, at is 25 MW. an average elevation of about 5,200 feet. Kilauea East 32 miles from the The calculated reserves within the Rift Zone summit of Kilauea entire KERZ have a 10th percentile (KERZ) Volcano to the sea value of approximately 291 MW and a mean value of approximately 778 MW. For the lower KERZ (excluding areas
129 Assessment of Energy Reserves and Costs of Geothermal Resources in Hawaii (2005). Submitted by GeothermEx, Inc. for DBEDT. http://maui-tomorrow.org/pdf/geothermal-assessment-05.pdf; See also http://kealohaenergy.kealohaestate.com/wp- content/uploads/2011/11/KERZ_Map_Hawaii_Island.jpg
53 within the national park and existing or planned forest reserves), these values are 181 MW and 438 MW, respectively. Kilauea Approx. 21 miles long The 10th percentile value of recoverable Southwest Rift energy reserves is estimated to be 133 Zone MW, with a mean value of 393 MW. The corresponding values for the lower portion of the rift (excluding areas within the national park) are 64 MW and 193 MW, respectively. Mauna Loa Approx. 11.5 miles long. The calculated 10th percentile value of Southwest Rift The average elevation reserves is 35 MW, and the mean value Zone along this part of the rift is 125 MW. is about 4,600 feet, resulting in an estimated range of average reservoir thickness from 2,400 feet to 5,400 feet. Mauna Loa 8.5-mile portion of the The calculated 10th percentile value of Northeast Rift upper rift. The average reserves is 22 MW, and the mean value Zone elevation in this zone is is 75 MW. about 5,400 feet.
On the mainland geothermal power can be developed at 5-10 cents/kWhr. Even allowing for higher costs in Hawai`i, geothermal power on the Big Island can be developed at below 15 cents/kWhr. New plants with a combined capacity of 50-75 MW, should be built in Puna and in Hualalai.
Hamakua Energy Partners (HEP) is a naphtha-fueled 60MW combined cycle power plant located in Honoka`a. HEP, the existing geothermal facility in Puna, and new geothermal facilities could provide all of the baseload power needed on the island.
All other fossil fuel power plants should be decommissioned.
Hydropower
Hydropower plants have provided power for sugar mills and utilities in Hawaii for many decades, and continue to produce significant amounts of electricity, mostly using “run-of-river” flows without dams.
Hilo Wailuku River Hydroelectric Power Co.: 11 MW, run-of-river; began operation 1993; it is located at the junction of the Wailuku River and the Kaloheahewa Stream.
Hilo Waiau Hydropower: 1.15 MW, run-of-river; began operation 1920, upgraded 1947, penstock refurbished 1998; it is located on the Wailuku River.
54 Hilo Puueo Hydropower: 2.5 MW, run-of-river, began operation 1910, upgraded 1941 and 2005; it is located on the Wailuku River downstream of the Waiau project.
Umauma: 15 MW potential. The Umauma Stream is located on the Hamakua coast and drains just north of Hakalau.
Kawainui: 6 MW potential. The Kawainui Stream is located on the Hamakua coast south of the Umauma project.
Drinking Water Hydro
“Hawaii County Department of Water Supply is using the power of water flowing naturally downhill from its Waikoloa Reservoirs to generate electricity, enough to power its entire Waimea Treatment Plant and sell the excess to the Hawaii Electric Light Co. ...A hydroelectric generator at the plant, designed by Mike Maloney of SOAR Technologies Inc., harvests kinetic energy through a Pelton turbine, intercepting the gravity-fed flow of mauka water. As the turbine spins, the flowing water releases energy to the shaft of an electric generator, creating power in the system. It is expected to consistently generate a maximum of about 40 kilowatts of power -- enough electricity to power roughly 50 households daily. The project cost is about $190,000.”130
Wind
Hawaii Wind Map Kohala Wind map
The Big Island has two operational wind facilities at opposite ends of the island. Hawi Renewable Development operates a 10 MW wind power plant along the northern coast at Upolu Point. Tawhiri Power (Apollo) operates a 21 MW wind power plant at Ka Lae (South Point).
130 Water supply uses its resources to pay the bills by Carolyn Lucas, West Hawaii Today, March 25, 2009 http://soartechinc.com/downloads/WestHawaiiTodayDWS3-25-09.pdf
55 A third wind power plant was located at Lalamilo Wells. This Waikoloa facility was installed in 1985 with 81 windmills varying between 17.5 and 20 kW each. The plains between Kohala and Mauna Kea comprise a large area with significant potential. Several wind developers have eyed the spot and have also considered building a pumped storage hydro facility adjacent to a new wind facility.
A fourth wind mill existed at Kahua Ranch on the Kohala ridge line. The Kahua Ranch facility combined wind energy with four other technologies. A 10 MW wind project was approved by the PUC and a power purchase contract was signed in 2001, but the contract was cancelled. The wind facility at Upolu Point is using existing transmission capacity that would also be used by a wind facility at Kahua Ranch, thus additional capacity would be required for a project at Kahua.
The recoverable wind resource in the Waikaloa/Kohala area exceeds the combined recoverable land-based wind resources in the rest of the State combined.
A fifth wind farm is located at Parker Ranch which has a 200 kW photovoltaic tracking system coupled with a 500 kW wind turbine system to move irrigated water around the ranch.131
Solar (Photovoltaic)
The broad area around Waikoloa, from Lanuipuaa to Kawaihae along the coast and inland toward Waimea, is an excellent solar resource. Existing transmission lines are in the vicinity, and the area around NELHA at Keahole Point (south of the Waikoloa area and north of Kona) is one of the best solar resources in Hawaii. The Mauna Lani resort installed an 80 kW photovoltaic system on the main building roof, as well as a 110 kW system to power Mauna Lani’s golf facility (1998) and a 252 kW tracking PV system (2002).
131 www.parkerranch.com/images/280.jpg
56 Batteries
Hawai`i Description Site Time/ Partners Funding Battery Status Source Projects132 Wind Farm 1 MW Altairnano battery Hawi Funded, Altair- HNEI BESS for 10.5 MW wind farm. not nano HELCO Demonstration. Research project for yet HELCO, Closed loop control active HRD system for voltage and frequency regulation133 HREDV/Gen-X 100 kW Altairnano Hawi Funded, Altairna HREDV BESS battery not noGen- Demonstration yet X, Project active. HELCO HELCO BESS Battery vendor: In DBEDT, ARRA Saft. Two batteries. Liion procure HELCO $0.9M (Ni-Co-Al) 100 kW, 248 ment kWh. Containerized for mobility and testing at different sites.
132 http://www.hawaiicleanenergyinitiative.org/storage/media/4_Hawaii%20Gride%20Energy%20Storage %20Research%20Project%20Summary.pdf Hawi Battery received funding (January 2011) http://www.staradvertiser.com/business/businessnews/114754704.html?id=114754704
133 “Hawi wind farm to get battery backup system Jan 27, 2011 http://www.staradvertiser.com/business/businessnews/114754704.html?id=114754704
57 Big Island Technical Profile
HELCO has a peak load of about 200 MW.
Hawai`i can supply 50-100% of its energy needs with geothermal. Sizable wind and solar opportunities supported by some hydroelectric could meet all of the island’s energy needs. About 60% of the HELCO mix should be baseload energy and the rest can be intermittent renewable energy.
While the utility states that it wants renewable energy it has shown especially great resistance in signing power purchase contracts for baseload renewable energy. Thus expansion of geothermal facilities has not yet occurred.
HELCO Generation Units134 are listed below.
They should all be decommissioned, starting with the oldest ones. The oldest diesel units produce the most pollution per kWhr.
Firm Generating Units Operating Mode Fuel Net Service Date Type Minimum Rating (MW) Shipman 3 & 4 Intermediate MSFO 10 1955-58 Hill (Kanoelehua) 5 & 6 Baseload MSFO 25 1965-74 Puna Baseload MSFO 9 1970 Hill (Kanoelehua) 11, Peaking Diesel 12.5 1962-73 15-17, CT-1 Waimea 12-14 Peaking Diesel 7.5 1970-72 Keahole 21-23 Peaking Diesel 7.5 1983-87 Keahole CT-2, 4 & 5 Intermediate Diesel 23 1989, 2004 Puna CT-3 Intermediate Diesel 7.5 1992 DG Peaking Diesel 4 1997
134 HELCO IRP-3 Report 2007-2026 (May 2007) http://www.helcohi.com/vcmcontent/HELCO/RenewableEnergy/IRP/HELCO_IRP3_Report_Final.pdf
58 CHAPTER IX: MAUI
Cover135
Maui Island
Maui is the second-largest of the Hawaiian Islands at 727.2 square miles. In 2010, Maui had a population of 140,000. Maui has a large isthmus between its older eroded West Maui Mountains and Haleakalā, the larger, younger volcano to the east which rises to more than 10,000 feet above sea level, and measures 5 miles from seafloor to summit, making it one of the world's highest mountains.
The island of Maui is part of the County of Maui. Maui is also part of a much larger unit, Maui Nui, that includes the islands of Lānaʻi, Kahoʻolawe, Molokaʻi, and the now submerged Penguin Bank. During periods of reduced sea level, including as recently as 20,000 years ago, they were joined together as a single island due to the shallowness of the channels between them.136
135Mauihttp://www.prumaui.com/images/map1.gif has more energy from wind facilities than the grid can handle. 136Pumpedhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maui Storage Hydro would firm up this resource, and geothermal can supplement the baseload energy. Maui also has great solar potential. 59 Geothermal
The current thinking is that Maui island has potential for geothermal development. Below are the geothermal zones137 identified in 2005: Area Description of Location Resource. For the purposes of this report, we have considered the 10th percentile MW value to be a minimum; there is a 90% probability that geothermal energy reserves will exceed this level for the area being evaluated.
Haleakala The identified resource This results in an estimated range Southwest Rift area on Haleakala’s of reservoir thickness of 3,500 to Zone southwest rift extends 6,500 feet. The calculated 10th over approximately 9 percentile value of reserves is 20 miles. MW, and the mean value is 69 MW. The average elevation in this zone is about 3,500 feet (half-way between sea level and the maximum elevation cut- off of 7,000 feet). Haleakala East Rift The identified resource The calculated 10th percentile Zone area on Haleakala’s east value of reserves is 18 MW, and rift is similar to that on the mean value is 70 MW. the southwest rift, extending over a distance of about 9 miles.
137 Assessment of Energy Reserves and Costs of Geothermal Resources in Hawaii (2005. Submitted by GeothermEx, Inc. for DBEDT. http://maui-tomorrow.org/pdf/geothermal-assessment-05.pdf
60 Wind
The highest average wind speed recorded on Maui was at Ukumehame on the southwestern corner of the isthmus at McGregor Point,138 Ma`alaea, where the terrain is fairly complex.139 The Keheawa Wind Farm is located on a ridge mauka of McGregor Point. The coastal areas on Maui island are not ideal for wind development because of the aesthetic and ecosystem impact of building wind facilities there.
In 2008 the Maui Ocean Center installed six small wind turbines on its roof; each 1 kW turbine is only 8.5 feet tall.140 The wind turbines which will save an estimated 48,880 kWh per year.141
138 This is anecdotal information provided to me by a wind developer. The year was not specified. 139 A Catalog of Potential Sites for Renewable Energy in Hawaii (2006), Global Energy Concepts, LLC for DLNR & DBEDT, in response to Act 95, Session Laws of Hawaii 2004. 140 http://mauisea.com/media/news/local/energy/2008112718272906412_Wind-Turbines-Story.jpg 141 Wind Energy by Blake Bridges, Chris Parnell, Jeremy Petrowski, Yuren Salazar, Loy Pearce.
61 Sempra Energy (Auwahi Project) Integrated intends to build a 21 MW wind facility with 12 MW of battery energy storage at Ulupalakua Ranch. It is estimated that this facility could produce enough power for 10,000 homes. It is scheduled to be operational by the end of 2013.
First Wind (formerly UPC Wind) currently operates a 30 MW wind farm at Kaheawa Pastures mauka of Ma`alaea, Maui, which began operations in 2006, and is planning a second phase that will add 21 MW; it is currently the largest commercial scale wind project in Hawaii. Kaheawa Wind I’s 20 turbines can produce 9% of Maui’s electricity needs, enough power for 11,000 homes. In five years of operation, it has saved some 900,000 barrels of oil. The 14-turbine expansion will power up to 20,000 homes, and will include 10 MW of battery storage.142
142 http://energy.hawaii.gov/programs/renewable-energy-projects-in-hawaii-november-2011
62 Solar (Photovoltaic)
The area south and east of Kahului Airport is well suited for solar development. Another desirable region includes areas mauka of developments in the Kihei area and the lower southwest slopes of Haleakala. PVUSA, a research organization affiliated with the University of California at Davis, has a Research and Technology Center located here.143
In 2012 Sopogy will install a rooftop array of micro concentrating solar collectors on the Maui Ocean Center. This is expected to result in an annual electrical savings of approximately 26,568 kWh,144 in addition to the 48,880 kWh saved from the small roof-top wind turbines.
Hydroelectric
Makila Hydro, LCC came on-line in 2006.145
143 A Catalog of Potential Sites for Renewable Energy in Hawaii (2006) Produced for DLNR & DBEDT by Global Energy Concepts, LLC in response to Act 95, Session Laws of Hawaii 2004. 144 http://hawaiirenewable.com/investments/sopogy/
145 MECO Adequacy of Supply 2010, submitted 1/27/11: http://www.mauielectric.com/vcmcontent/GenerationBid/MECO/2011MECOAOS.pdf
63 Batteries
Maui Battery Systems146 Project Description Location Time/ Partners Fundin Status g Source Kaheawa 1.5 MW (1 MWh) Xtreme Kaheawa Active First First Wind Power battery. Battery Wind, Wind Project 1 project to demonstrate Xtreme functions and capabilities Power of energy storage to enable managing wind plant ramps. Wind smoothing, curtailment mitigation Kaheawa 10 MW (20 MWh) Xtreme Kaheawa Propose First First Wind Power battery. Battery to d, Wind, Wind Project 2 meet interconnection not yet Xtreme agreement requirements. active Power Provide ancillary services, wind smoothing, curtailment mitigation, frequency regulation, spinning reserve, and AGC response HNU 1 MW (1 MWh?) Kihei Funded, HNU HREDV Energy International Battery substation not Energy, BESS yet MECO Demonstra active tion
Auwahi BESS associated with 22 Ulupalakua Funded Sempra Wind MW wind project on Maui Project RDSI Maui Smart grid project Wailea Active HNEI, DOE Smart Grid demonstration. SRA $7M Project Distribution management Intl./ system (DMS) and AMI Sentech, infrastructure to manage MECO, distribution-level Silver resources, such as Spring battery energy storage, Networks, controllable loads, and HECO
146 http://www.hawaiicleanenergyinitiative.org/storage/media/4_Hawaii%20Gride%20Energy%20Storage %20Research%20Project%20Summary.pdf
64 distributed PV, and provide grid services at distribution and transmission levels
Hawaii – Smart grid project Kihei Funded Hitachi, NEDO Okinawa demonstration. Battery, MECO, Smart Grid Smart grid/AMI/ DBEDT, Demonstra Communications HECO, tion tech. EVs Including HNEI Project electric vehicle charging, distribution management system, energy management system, smart PV inverters, and community energy storage. MRESS Battery demonstration Kahului In DBEDT, ARRA (Maui for curtailment reduction baseyard Procure- MECO $1.2M Renewable on Maui; Premium Power ment Energy 250 kW, 1.25. BESS on Storage Maui plus equipment System) (TBD after interconnection study) to allow additional renewables on Kaunakakai circuit. MWh zinc-bromide flow battery
Maui Technical Profile147
HECO purchased MECO in 1968, the Lanai City power plant in 1988, and Molokai Electric Company in 1989.148
MECO’s peak energy use on Maui Island (206.4 MW net) occurred in 2006. Maui's 2010 system peak for Maui Island occurred on December 28, 2010, and was 199.4 MW (net) or 203.8 MW (gross). The total system capability of MECO was 262.3 MW (net) at the time of the system peak, resulting in a reserve margin of approximately 32% over the 2010 system peak.149
There are two MECO 1.0 MW back-up generators located in Hana.
147 Id.; Sandia National Labs: http://www.sandia.gov/segis/IEEE%20Presentations_Addendium/Lanai%20Addendum/Island%20Ener gy%20Storage%20AKHIL.pdf 148 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaiian_Electric_Industries 149 http://www.mauielectric.com/vcmcontent/GenerationBid/MECO/2011MECOAOS.pdf
65 Maui Baseload Generators150
Location Generator Gross Reserves
Ma`alaea M1 2.5 M2 2.5 M3 2.5 X1 2.5 X2 2.5 M4 5.6 M5 5.6 M6 5.6 M7 5.6 M8 5.6 M9 5.6 M10 12.5 M11 12.5 M12 12.5 M13 12.5 M14/15/16 58.0 M17/18/19 58.0 Kahului K1 5.9 K2 6.0 K3 12.7 K4 13.0 HC&S 16.0 Hana 1 1.0 2 1.0
Total 267.7
150 Maui Unit Ratings (December 31, 2010): MECO Adequacy of Supply, Attachment 2, p. 1, filed with the PUC (January 27, 2011)
66 CHAPTER X: O`AHU
Cover151
O`ahu (The City and County of Honolulu)
Oʻahu is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast. Including small close-in offshore islands such as Ford Island and the islands in Kaneohe Bay and off the eastern (windward) coast, it has a total land area of 596.7 square miles. The island is home to about 953,207 people (approximately 75% of the resident population of the state, with approximately 75% of those living on the "city" side of the island).
The volcanic island is 44 miles long and 30 miles across with a shoreline of 227 miles. The island is the result of two separate shield volcanoes: Waiʻanae and Koʻolau, with a broad "valley" or saddle (the central Oʻahu Plain) between them.
151 Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR) http://www.hear.org/starr/maps/stock/originals/oahu_landsat_blue.jpg
67 The highest point is Mt. Ka'ala in the Waiʻanae Range, rising to 4,003 feet above sea level.152
emptyO`ahu has enormous potential to create energy from empty rooftops that can support solar water heaters, solar photovoltaic, concentrated solar power and micro wind; from water reservoirs and streams without hydroelectric facilities; and from ocean waves. Sea Water Air Conditioning can cool off commercial buildings.
The island of O`ahu has the largest population, at over 950,000, and the largest energy demand. The island’s annual energy production is approximately 8000 GWh and system load typically ranges from a peak of 1,200 MW to a minimum of 600 MW.153 While recent focus has been on reliably integrating large amounts of intermittent renewable resource from Neighbor Islands into the grids on O`ahu, many opportunities exist to maximize on-island resources, thereby eliminating the need to construct a costly undersea cable.
Sea Water Air Conditioning
The use of cold ocean water, by installing sea water air conditioning capacity, could reduce Waikiki's energy bill by 40%.154
Potential sites for Sea Water Air Conditioning on O`ahu are Downtown Honolulu, Waikiki, Pearl Harbor, the Honolulu International Airport and Hickam Air Force Base.”155
152 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oahu 153 Oahu Wind Integration Study (OWIS), 2/2011. 154 Uncontested testimony by Life of the Land witness Dr. John Harrison during the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) contested case hearing re Conservation District Use Application (CDUA) OA- 2801. Dr. John Harrison worked as a post-doctoral marine scientist for the University of California at Berkeley where he administered the U.S. Department of Energy funded ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) environmental research program in Hawaii. Dr. Harrison wrote the Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) handbook for the U.S. Department of Energy's solar energy research institute. Dr. Harrison was hired by the United States Department of Commerce, National Marine Fishery Services to write the environmental analysis section of the federal environmental impact statement for the 40-megawatt ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) pilot plant that was intended to be installed at Kahe Point adjacent to and in combination with the Hawaiian Electric Kahe Point generating facility. 155 Testimony of Dr. David Rezachek in Hawai`i PUC Docket 2005-145 re: Sea Water Air Conditioning. http://www.lifeofthelandhawaii.org/Proposed-2009-plant/Rezachek.pdf
68 Hydropower
Oahu has several large, dammed reservoirs,156 all of which could provide continuous power to offset intermittent (variable) wind and solar resources. Currently there are no hydroelectric facilities on O`ahu.
Wahiawa Dam, which created Wahiawa Reservoir or Lake Wilson, is located in Wahiawa. It is the second largest reservoir in Hawaii (302 acres) and is owned by Dole Foods. The concrete dam was first built in 1906 on the Kaukonahua Stream, the state’s longest stream (33 miles). The entire Kaukonahua Stream flow is 39 MGD gathered from a drainage basin of 10 square miles. The height of the dam is 88 feet and the lake can store 9,200 acre-feet.
Nuuanu Dam, an engineered earthen dam, was first built in 1910 on Nuuanu Stream and reconstructed in the 1930s. Nuuanu Reservoir was originally used for drinking water, but it is now used for recreational fishing and flood control. It is owned and operated by the Honolulu Board of Water Supply. It has a maximum storage of 3,600 acre-feet. The height of the dam is sixty-six feet. The normal water height is thirty feet. Nuuanu Reservoir could store as much as 1.1 billion gallons of water.
Hoomaluhia Dam was built for flood control in 1980 and is owned by the City and County of Honolulu. The dam has a height of seventy-six feet. Hoomaluhia Reservoir can hold 4,500 acre-feet.
Kaneohe Dam, on Kamooalii Stream at the base of the Koolau Mountains, has a 4,500 acre-feet capacity. It is an engineered earthen dam, built for flood control, in response to devastating floods in Kaneohe in the late 1960s.
The Waiahole Ditch157 is a 22-mile water diversion system which took about 28 MGD of windward water to plantation’s sugar fields on the central O‘ahu plain.158
Lake Wilson Hydroelectric
A hydroelectric facility can be built at Lake Wilson. A large-diameter water pipe can be built adjacent to Kaukonahua Stream along most or all of the stream’s length between Lake Wilson and Otake Camp in Waialua. The pipe could be used to generate in-flow hydroelectric power during periods of peak energy demand.
Some of the water can be returned to the Kaukonahua Stream, which empties into Ki`iki`i Stream about a mile mauka of Kaiaka Bay.
156 http://archives.starbulletin.com/2006/03/19/news/story01.html 157 http://hawaii.gov/hdoa/meetings_reports/legislative-reports/2004legreports/Map5.pdf 158 http://www.hanahou.com/pages/magazine.asp?Action=DrawArticle&ArticleID=604&MagazineID=38&P age=4
69 The diverted water could also flow into new non-potable water reservoirs. The advantage of this is two-fold:
First, during the night (10 p.m. to 6 a.m.) wind facilities can produce power but instead sit idle, since they are curtailed by the utility due to low demand. The two North Shore Wind Farms (Kahuku, Kawailoa) could send night-time wind energy to HECO’s Haleiwa (Weed Circle) Sub-transmission Station and then to the lower end of Kaukonahua Stream, just a mile away. The wind energy could then be used to pump water back up to Lake Wilson (pumped storage hydro).
Second, Kaukonahua Stream has periodically overrun its banks, flooding and displacing communities, especially Otake Camp. In addition, major siltation occurs throughout Kaiaka Bay every time there is a heavy rain. The huge watershed gets its water from four Ko`olau streams and two Mount Kaala (Waianae) streams. By siphoning off the stream water into lower reservoirs, electricity would be created, and the flooding and siltation can be avoided.
In all probability hydroelectric would play a small role in the total energy generated on the island. But it should not be written off without rigorous analysis.
Ocean Wave Energy
The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), a national utility think tank whose members represent over 90% of the electricity generated by shareholder-owned utilities in the United States, examined wave power in 2004. In considering Hawai`i’s potential for wave power, EPRI concluded that waves off O`ahu’s north- facing coastline could produce 100% of O`ahu's total electrical demand.159
Similarly, as noted above, the U.S. Department of Energy’s160 report “Tapping into Wave and Tidal Ocean Power: 15% Water Power by 2030” concluded O`ahu could generate twice its electricity needs from ocean wave energy alone.
The ideal wave energy system for O`ahu is the Blow-Hole (Oscillating Water Column) Wave Energy System. It consists of a compartment with water at the bottom and air on top. When a wave arrives, the water level rises and air is forced out of the blowhole. When the wave recedes, the air is sucked back into the blowhole. A two-way air turbine spins in the same direction as the air goes in and out, generating electricity. Having the spinning device rotating in the same direction, regardless of which way the wind is moving, significantly increases the efficiency of the generator. There is only one moving part in Oscillating Water Column systems, and unlike most other wave energy systems, it is above the water level. The physical structure rises about 30 feet above sea level. The blowhole energy systems can produce net power (after accounting for the power to run the system) with an eight inch ocean swell.
159 http://oceanenergy.epri.com/waveenergy.html#reports 160 Mapping and Assessment of the United States Ocean Wace Energy Resource , EPRI Technical Report 2011 http://www1.eere.energy.gov/water/pdfs/mappingandassessment.pdf
70 The areas detailed in pink reflect the boundaries of the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, and would be considered “restricted areas”161 for ocean wave energy development.
Wind
The Koolau Mountains and the Waianae Range serve to enhance Oahu’s prevalent trade winds. The northeastern (Kahuku), southeastern (Koko Head), northwestern (Kaena Point), and southwestern (Kahe) tips of Oahu also have areas of substantial wind resource. The best potential combination of land available for wind development and a strong, proven wind resource is found in the Kahuku area.162
There are also viable off-shore wind possibilities in the Kahuku and Kalaeloa areas.
The best on-shore as well as off-shore sites, however, appear to be off-limits: the wealthy Black Point area by Diamond Head, the Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve and the coastal waters off Aina Haina.
161 http://hawaiihumpbackwhale.noaa.gov/involved/images/oahusites/oahuocsites.jpg 162 A Catalog of Potential Sites for Renewable Energy in Hawaii (December 2006) Produced for DLNR and DBEDT by Global Energy Concepts, LLC in response to Act 95, Session Laws of Hawaii 2004
71 Solar (Photovoltaic)
“Sempra is seeking an Enhanced Use Lease (EUL) with Navy-Hawaii to develop a Solar Photovoltaic Project of up to 300 MW at Pearl Harbor.”163 “Sempra Energy Corporation proposed the construction of a 1,500-acre solar-energy farm that would generate 300 megawatts of power, including 30 megawatts for the Pearl Harbor Navy Base, and 270 megawatts for Hawaiian Electric, the local utility.” 164
The Sempra proposal would use 0.4% of O`ahu’s land area of 596.7 square miles and would produce over 5% of O`ahu’s electricity load -- at a cost of 20% less than is estimated for Big Wind on a per kWh basis.
Average peak Sun Hours165 Solar Radiation166
163 http://alternativematters.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/sempra-presentation.pdf ; See also http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sempra-lasermotive-pitch-energy-ideas-to-pentagon-2011-09-19 164 http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sempra-lasermotive-pitch-energy-ideas-to-pentagon-2011- 09-19 165 http://www.hawaiienergyconnection.com/wp- content/uploads/manual/galleries/sunHours/images/sun-oahuSolarMap.jpg 166 http://www.focussolar.de/images/solarmaps/country/america/2008_hawaii_oahu.png
72 Solar Radiation167 Solar Radiation168
According to HECO (2011), O`ahu can install up to 532 MW of solar, mostly ground-based: Oahu Scenarios – Solar Site Selection Process169
Location Initial Analysis170 Further Analysis171 Kailua-Kaneohe 5 MW Distributed PV 5 MW DPV & 5-10 MW Feed in Tariff PV Mililani 5 MW Distributed PV 20 MW DPV & 100-200 CPV Waipio 20-60 MW Central PV included with Mililani Downtown 15 MW Distributed PV 25 MW DPV (including Aina Haina) Ewa-Kapolei 10-20 MW Central PV 100-150 MW CPV Waianae 10-50 MW Central PV 50-100 MW CPV & 10-20 MW DPV Haleiwa-Waialua 1-2 MW DPV Total 65-155 MW 316-532 MW
According to Booz Allen Hamilton (2012), O`ahu can install 992 MW of rooftop solar.172
167 http://www.hawaiisolarincentives.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/solarmap-oahu.png 168 http://www.sfu.ca/geog/geog355fall06/pchenga/images/solar.jpg 169 HECO: Expanding the Gap Evaluation Methodology Connecting Issues to Studies to Results: Document submitted for Reliability Standards Working Group’s Gap Analysis Subgroup Meeting December 19, 2011, pp. 25-26 170 Based on existing installed solar, Locational Value Map (LVM) and general development interest, HECO identified some likely locations for solar development. p. 25 171 Booz Allen Hamilton identified additional sites.
73 Combined Systems
As discussed earlier, the University of Hawai`i, Manoa, employed a small horizontal axis micro wind mill, along with solar panels, to implement a “combined systems” approach in Saunders Hall.
The Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam is testing a solar and micro-wind system which can power so much of the electric grid that feeds the area, while also providing hydrogen for fueling vehicles.
Electric Vehicles
It is an unfortunate truth that electric generators using fossil fuels are not very efficient. Most of the oil burned by utilities to make electricity is lost in the form of heat: up the smokestack or out the outfall into the ocean. Even so, electric generators are much more efficient than car and truck engines. In addition, it is easier to replace fossil fuel with renewable energy to make electricity than it is to find a liquid fuel replacement for gasoline. Therefore replacing the century-old gasoline-burning automobile with electric vehicles makes a great deal of sense.
Since the average vehicle is driven less than 100 miles per day, lithium ion batteries could be recharged easily during the night. The car batteries can be automatically plugged into a recharging station about the size of a parking meter, the voltage of which is similar to a wall socket in a house.
As an experiment, a fleet of electric vehicles could be purchased en masse to replace existing fossil fuel vehicles. Excess locally produced renewable power, in the form of solar or wind, could then be used to “charge” the electric vehicles, acting as a de facto energy storage facility at night, when the demand is the least. The ideal test location would be an island not connected by roads to other land masses, so that travel is typically limited in scale. But until such a broad-scale test is conducted, electric vehicles will likely be limited to mainly providing high-value grid ancillary and demand response services and emergency energy services, for the next several decades.
172 Matrix of Unadjusted Generation Capacity by Island and Technology (MW), Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative Scenario Analysis: Quantitative Estimates Used to Facilitate Working Group Discussions (2008 –2010) Booz Allen Hamilton (March 2012). (“NREL/SR- 7A40-52442”) pp. 12-13. Oahu rooftop analysis is based on NREL analysis: NREL estimates 2.5 kW per house and assumes that half of Hawaii’s 500,036 houses (as of 2006 census) are available for rooftop PV. (National Renewable Energy Laboratory. [2006]). In 2003, Hawaii had approximately 173 million ft² of office space, according to HECO, with 0.01 kW per ft² (which is the figure for the 309 kW, 31,000 ft² Ford Array). According to NREL, it is assumed commercial buildings are proportional to residential ones when seeking an island- by-island estimate, with half of commercial buildings available for rooftop PV.
74 Following the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japan has expressed interest in exploring Vehicle-To-Grid (V2G) Technology, whereby Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) and Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) can store excess night-time wind energy and power homes during the day.
Conversely, community energy production facilities can power vehicles, which can then discharge excess power into buildings using Vehicle-To-Grid (V2G) Technology.
Home Powered by Cars173
O`ahu Battery Systems174
The chart below details current storage options being investigated on O`ahu.
Project Description Location Time/S Partners Funding tatus Source First Wind 15 MW (10 MWh) Kahuku Active Xtreme First Wind Kahuku Xtreme Power battery at Power, DOE Project 30 MW Kahuku site; First Wind funded & owned by First Wind with DOE loan guarantee. Wind smoothing, curtailment mitigation, voltage regulation Waiawa 1 MW (250 KWh) Waiawa Funded HECO, HNEI High- Altairnano battery at not Altairnano HECO Penetration HECO substation on high yet Circuit PV penetration circuit. active (PV)
173 http://www.thechargingpoint.com/SiteMedia/images/iMievDomesticOutlet_inset.jpg 174http://www.hawaiicleanenergyinitiative.org/storage/media/4_Hawaii%20Gride%20Energy%20Stora ge%20Research%20Project%20Summary.pdf
75 Natural Gas
O`ahu can convert its oil-based and coal-based generators to natural gas turbines, which burn cleaner. Natural gas can provide a better offset than other fossil fuels for integrating fluctuating intermittent (wind and solar) renewable energy into the grid.
O`ahu Generators175 MW
HECO: Kahe 650 HECO: Waiau 500 HECO: Honolulu 113 (Downtown) HECO: Campbell Industrial 120 biofuel peaking unit Park AES Hawaii, Inc. 180 coal-fired cogeneration plant Kalaeloa Partners, L.P. 208 oil-fired combustion turbines burning low sulfur fuel oil HPower 46 garbage to energy Kahuku Wind Farm 30 Kawailoa Wind Farm 69 Airport Dispatchable 8 Standby Generation Project Tesoro 18.5 as-available Chevron 9.6 as-available Forest City: Kapolei 1 solar Sustainable Energy Park* Honua* 6 waste-to-energy IC Sunshine* 5 solar Kalaeloa Solar I* 4 CSP Kalaeloa Solar II* 5 solar * Various states of approval & construction
175 HECO 10-K, dated February 17, 2012; HECO Power Facts: http://www.heco.com/vcmcontent/StaticFiles/pdf/PowerFacts_52011.pdf; Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative Energy Agreement Update - Year Two (January 2011) by Hawaiian Electric Companies. http://www.heco.com/vcmcontent/StaticFiles/pdf/HCEI_2YearUpdate.pdf
76 CHAPTER XI: KAUA`I AND NI`IHAU
Kauai Map176
empty Kaua`i has enormous potential to create renewable energy from solar photovoltaic and hydropower.
176 http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PUKArx7y8E8/TsJ3_PharAI/AAAAAAAACOc/cKPjr07kbMA/s1600/map-of- kauai-roads.jpg
77 Kauaʻi
Kauaʻi is geologically the oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands. With an area of 562.3 square miles it is the fourth largest of the main islands in the Hawaiian archipelago. In 2010 the population was 58,000.
The highest peak on this mountainous island is Kawaikini at 5,243 feet . The second highest peak is Mount Waiʻaleʻale near the center of the island, 5,148 feet above sea level. One of the wettest spots on earth, with an annual average rainfall of 460 inches, is located on the east side of Mount Waiʻaleʻale. The high annual rainfall has eroded deep valleys in the central mountains, carving out canyons with many scenic waterfalls. At 3,000 feet deep, Waimea Canyon is often referred to as "The Grand Canyon of the Pacific". The Na Pali Coast is a center for recreation in a wild setting, including kayaking past the beaches, or hiking on the trail along the coastal cliffs.177
Kauaʻi Electric was incorporated in 1905, became a division of Citizens Utilities Company in 1969, and was sold to Kauaʻi Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) in 2002. KIUC became the first electric coop in the U.S. to own both generation and transmission.
KIUC is a utility and is therefore regulated by the Public Utilities Commission. For the most part, KIUC stockholders and ratepayers are the same group. Thus the PUC does not have to guard ratepayer interests against stockholder greed. As a result, the PUC exercises far less regulatory authority over KIUC than it does over electric monopolies such as HECO, MECO and HELCO.
Although KIUC is a cooperative it is not truly representative. While Kauai has 58,000 people, KIUC has 32,000 customers (potential members), but only 5,000 members voted in the most recent KIUC elections. Thus in 2012 it took just 2350 votes (4% of Kauai's population) to be elected to the KIUC Board of Directors.178
The energy spike of 2008 forced a review of energy policy. In 2008 KIUC relied primarily on fossil fuels (91.9%). Other energy sources were hydroelectric (7.6%), biomass (0.2%), and solar (0.2%). KIUC embarked on a 15-year drive to generate 50% of its electricity from renewables by 2023.
In 2011 REC Solar commissioned Kauai’s first commercial-scale solar facility -- a 1.2 MW photovoltaic solar farm in Kapa’a. REC Solar is working with Homestead Community Development Corporation (HCDC) to coordinate the next steps on a 12 megawatt solar project located on Hawaiian Homelands in Anahola on the northeast side of Kaua‘i. In 2012 KIUC released a Request for Offer (RFO) to landowners for sites to host an 8-10 MW solar facility.179 Xtreme Power, Inc. will install a 1.2 MW battery energy storage system at the Koloa substation.
177 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kauai 178 http://website.kiuc.coop/content/official-results-2012-board-directors-election; http://kiucrenewablesolutions.coop/news-events/news-releases/news-release-782011/ 179 http://website.kiuc.coop/content/kiuc-develop-second-large-solar-project-kauai-0
78 KIUC has some diesel-fired generators which are capable of burning biodiesel . KIUC has signed an agreement with Kauai Farm Fuel (KFF) for biodiesel. KFF is Kauai’s first company to recycle waste vegetable oil on Kauai and turn it into a biodiesel. Each year KFF processes 72,000 gallons of used cooking oil and about 18,000 gallons of used trap grease. KIUC is working with Free Flow Power (FFP) to explore the development of several hydroelectric projects. KIUC has started installing advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) and other smart grid technologies.180
Wind is not an option on Kauai due to the prevalence of protected and endangered birds. Bird strikes on existing KIUC infrastructure is a serious issue. Due to non- compliance with federal law, a lawsuit was filed by environmental and conservation groups (Ho‘omalu I Ka Aina, Conservation Council for Hawaii, the Center for Biological Diversity and the American Bird Conservancy). In 2011 KIUC reached an out-of-court settlement and has initiated a Habitat Conservation Plan.
180 http://website.kiuc.coop/content/renewable-energy
79 Niʻihau
Ni`ihau181
181 http://65.61.16.97/Niihau/Images/niimap.gif
80 empty Ni`ihau can be powered by solar and batteries.
Niʻihau is the seventh largest of the inhabited Hawaiian Islands in the U.S. state of Hawaiʻi, having an area of 69.5 square miles. Niʻihau lies 17.5 miles southwest of Kauaʻi across the Kaulakahi Channel.
Its 2000 census population was 160 decreasing to 130 in 2009. The island is currently managed by Bruce and Keith Robinson.182
In 2007 a 10.4 kW photovoltaic power system with battery storage was installed at Ni`ihau Island School. The school is the first 100% renewably powered school in Hawai`i.
182 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niihau
81 CHAPTER XII: THE FUTURE UTILITY & ITS REGULATION
The future vision is this: HECO, MECO and HELCO would be merged into one utility. This would simplify regulation of the utility since one rather than three companies would make filings. The combined utility would equalize ratepayer rates (tariffs) across the islands.
Currently tax credits are used to subsidize renewable energy systems, but owners cannot predict the pay-back period due to uncertainty surrounding utility imposed curtailment and utility-imposed minimum monthly fees. Furthermore, the minimum monthly fees are often high enough to act as a deterrent to installing on-site systems in the first place. The minimum monthly fee should be set at $5 or less. Curtailment must not be applied to small systems.
HECO, MECO, HELCO and the Public Utilities Commission have established a very confusing set of tariffs for small renewable energy generators (0-5 MW) under the name of Feed-In Tariffs. In essence, there are almost a dozen different rates, depending on the island, the size of the system, and the technology. Since the goal is to reduce the use of fossil fuel, the utility should set one price at which it will buy renewably-generated electricity, and anyone who is willing to install a system must have the right to sell the excess to the grid at that one price.
Larger wind systems can avoid the night-time curtailment issue through the electrolyzation of hydrogen from water.
Natural gas turbines would be used on Lana`i, Moloka`i and O`ahu to offset fluctuating production by large-scale intermittent renewable energy generators. On Maui, Pumped Storage Hydroelectric and Geothermal would provide the offset. On Hawai`i island, geothermal and naphtha (the Hamakua Energy Partners) would provide the offset.
Stabilizing the output of large central station renewable energy generators would enable greater numbers of small distributed renewable energy systems to be integrated into the grid.
The utility could offer a micro-grid energy prize and an innovative energy prize each year.
The micro-grid award would go to the individual, company or team that was able to create a mini-grid(s) with the greatest variety of renewable energy resources. For example, at one time the Kahua Ranch in Kohala on the Big Island had five different types of generators mostly using renewable sources of energy.
The innovation award would go to the most creative demonstration of renewable energy use. For example, a hat on a jogger with a tiny wind propeller which lights a tiny light alerting drivers of the jogger’s presence, or an exercise bike in which turning the wheels powered the readout, or a road on which vehicles travelling over it would create mechanical power.
82 The Golden Rule would be -- The Community Knows Best:
Local communities should determine which resources are appropriate for their community and which resources should not be deployed in their community.
Utility plans should be made public. They should detail the relative impacts (economic, social, cultural and environmental) for each alternative. The analysis should be conducted by independent third-parties.
83 CHAPTER XIII: SUMMARY
The following table represents a dynamic view of where Hawai`i should be in 2030. While Natural Gas is an attractive “bridge” fuel, more efficient and cost effective storage could lead to less reliance on Natural Gas and Naphtha. Increases in reliability and decreases in the cost of on-site generation could lead to a faster exodus from the grid.
Island RE Primary Baseload (baseload must Major Intermittent % provide 50% of the total load) Resources
Moloka`i 90 Combined Solar /Gas Facility (1.5 Solar (10-15 MW) MW); Hydroelectric (1 MW); Pumped Storage Hydro (1.5 MW) Lana`i 75 Combined Solar /Gas/Battery Solar (10-15 MW), Biofuels Facility (4 MW) (4-5 MW) Hawai`i 100 Geothermal (100 MW); Naphtha (60 Wind (300 MW), Solar (50 MW) MW) Maui 100 Wind /Pumped Storage Hydro (80 Wind (80 MW), Solar (20 MW); Geothermal (20 MW) MW) O`ahu 90 Energy Efficiency (200 MW On-shore Wind (100 MW); reduction in demand); Combined Off-shore Wind (200 MW); Solar /Gas Facilities (300 MW); Solar (300 MW), Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Concentrated Solar Power (200 MW) (200 MW); Wave Energy (200 MW)
Kaua`i 100% Hydroelectric Solar Ni`ihau 100% Batteries Solar
Game changers that could eliminate the need for Natural Gas include advancements in Concentrated Solar Power, Battery Storage, and Algae Biodiesel.
84 APPENDIX I: COMPARATIVE COSTS BY RENEWABLE RESOURCE
Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative: Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) (cents/kWhr)183 Technology Low Average High
Solid Biomass 6.7 10.85 15 Wind 6.9 11.3 15.6 Geothermal 6.7 7.7 8.6 Small Hydro 5.7 9.65 13.7 Solar-Residential Roofs 20.0 27.25 34.5 Solar PV (Large Roof/Utility Scale 19.0 22.85 27.6 MSW/Landfill Gas 5.0 6.5 8.0 Ocean Energy (Wave) 13.5 29.0 44.5 Energy Efficiency 5.0 7.5 10.0
Public Utilities Commission Power Purchase Contracts (2008-12)
For many of the power purchase contracts, the price varies for on-peak & off-peak production, for the amount of energy sold, whether there is a yearly price escalator, and for the type of State tax credit/refund the developer is able to secure. The data can be difficult to understand without expertise in cost accounting and contracts.
Technology Contracts First year Price (cents/kWhr) Biomass KIUC-Green Energy Team confidential HECO-Honua184 18-22 Geothermal HELCO-PGV185 5.43-11.8 Hydroelectric Feed-in Tariffs186 18.9-21.3 Solar HECO-Kapolei Sustainable Energy 17.75-23.6 Park187 HECO-Kalaeloa Solar II188 HECO-IC Sunshine189 Solar-Electric (PV) Feed-in Tariffs 18.9-27.4 Solar-Thermal (CSP) Feed-in Tariffs 25.4-33.5 Wind MECO-Auwahi Wind190 20.3 Wind Feed-in Tariffs 12.0-16.1
183 HCEI Update to Electricity and Transportation Wedge Analysis: Scenarios to illuminate policy needs and inform technical working groups (Sept 30, 2008) Updated cost inputs. pdf p. 126 184 PUC Docket 2010-0010 185 PUC Docket 2011-0040, D&O Decision Date: 12/30/2011 186 Docket 2008-0273, PUC D&O: 12/29/11, HECO Tariff: 12/30/11 187 PUC Docket 2011-0185 D&O Decision Date: 11/18/2011 188 PUC Docket 2011-0051; D&O Decision Date: 9/21/2011 189 PUC Docket 2011-0015; D&O Decision Date: 1/26/12 190 PUC Docket 2011-0060
85 Acronyms
AC Alternating Current
BESS Battery Energy Storage Systems BLNR Board of Land and Natural Resources BTU British Thermal Unit
CARB California's Air Resources Board CFL Compact Fluorescent Lights CG Central Generation CNG Compressed Natural Gas CSP Concentrated Solar Power CTAHR University of Hawai`i College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources
DBEDT Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism DC Direct Current DCCA Hawai`i Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs DEM Digital Elevation Models DG Distributed Generation DLAC Deep Lake Air Conditioning DLNR Hawai`i Department of Land and Natural Resources DURP University of Hawai`i at Manoa: Department of Urban and Rural Planning DOA Hawai`i Department of Agriculture DOE U.S. Department of Energy DWAC Deep Water Air Conditioning
EIA Energy Information Agency EIS Environmental Impact Statement EISA Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 EPA U.S. Environmental Protection Agency EPRI Electric Power Research Institute E2I Electricity Innovation Institute
FCMC Forest City Military Communities, LLC FiT Feed-in Tariffs
GEO Green Energy Outlet GIS Geographic Information System GTE Garbage To Energy GW Gigawatt
HARC Hawaii Agricultural Research Center (formerly Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association)
86 HC&S Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company HCEI Hawai`i Clean Energy Initiative HCH Hickam Community Housing HECO Hawaiian Electric Company HEEP Hawaii Energy Efficiency Program HELCO Hawaii Electric Light Company HIEV Hawaii Electric Vehicles HISO Hawaii Independent System Operator HNEI Hawaii Natural Energy Institute H-POWER Honolulu Program Of Waste Energy Recovery HUB Help Us Bridge HVCA Hawaii Venture Capital Association
ILUC Indirect Land Use Changes
KW Kilowatt kWh Kilowatt-hour kWyr Kilowatt-year
LED Light-Emitting Diode LPG Liquefied Petroleum Gas LUC Hawai`i Land Use Commission
MECO Maui Electric Company MSW Municipal Solid Waste MTBE Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether MW Megawatt MWh Megawatt-hour MWyr Megawatt-year
NBB National Biodiesel Board NEM Net Energy Metering NEPA National Environmental Policy Act NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NRDC National Resources Defense Council NREL US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory
OCEES Ocean Engineering and Energy Systems OHA Office of Hawaiian Affairs OPEC Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries OTEC Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion OWAC Ocean Water Air Conditioning
PGV Puna Geothermal Venture PPA Power Purchase Agreement
87 PUC Hawai`i Public Utilities Commission PV Photovoltaic
RFP Request for Proposals RSPO Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil
SIA Standard Interconnection Agreement SOEST School of Ocean Earth Sciences and Technology SPRB Special Purpose Revenue Bond SWAC Sea Water Air Conditioning
TED The Energy Detective TPPPA Third Party Power Purchase Agreement
UH University of Hawaii UHM University of Hawaii at Manoa UNIDO United Nations Industrial Development Organization
V2G Vehicle-to-Grid
WEC Wave Energy Conversion System WTE Waste To Energy
88 Glossary
Alcohol: A general class of hydrocarbons that contain a hydroxyl group (OH). The term "alcohol" is often used interchangeably with the term "ethanol," even though there are many types of alcohol including Butanol, Ethanol, and Methanol.
Alternating Current (AC): Electric current in which electrons repeatedly change direction.
Ampere (amp): A unit of electric current used to measure the rate of flow.
Barrel: A volumetric unit of measure for crude oil and petroleum products equivalent to 42 U.S. gallons.
Baseload: The power that can be continuously produced.
Baseload Electricity: Electricity available 24/7.
Battery: A device that stores electricity.
Biodiesel: A biofuel produced through transesterification, a process in which organically-derived oils are combined with alcohol (ethanol or methanol) in the presence of a catalyst to form ethyl or methyl ester. Biodiesel can be made from soybean or rapeseed oils, animal fats, waste vegetable oils or microalgae oils.
Bioenergy: Renewable energy produced from organic matter. The organic matter may either be used directly as a fuel, or processed into liquids or gases.
Biofuel: Fuel made from biomass. Biofuels include ethanol, biodiesel and methanol.
Biofuel Path: a scenario focused on converting existing generators from burning petroleum to burning biofuels.
Biogas: A combustible gas derived from decomposing biological waste. Biogas normally consists of 50 to 60 percent methane.
Biomass: Renewable organic matter such as agricultural crops and residue, wood and wood waste, animal waste, aquatic plants and organic components of municipal and industrial wastes.
Biomass fuel: Liquid, solid or gaseous fuel produced by conversion of biomass.
Bloom Box: a solid oxide fuel cell technology using natural gas
British Thermal Unit (BTU): A standard unit for measuring the quantity of heat.
89 Capacity: The amount of electric power delivered or required for which a generator, turbine, transformer, transmission circuit, station, or system is rated by the manufacturer.
Carbon Sequestration: The absorption and storage of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Cascading Natural Deregulation: The belief that as the price of renewable energy falls, customers will leave the utility, driving up the prices for those remaining on the grid. As utility prices rise more ratepayers will abandon the utility.
Cellulose: The main carbohydrate in living plants. Cellulose forms the skeletal structure of the plant cell wall.
Clean Energy: A term not defined under state law but generally believed to mean renewable energy and energy efficiency.
Climate Change: Fossil fuels are altering the natural climate causing increasing disruptions to ecosystems and planetary phenomena.
Coal: A readily combustible black or brownish-black rock whose composition, including inherent moisture, consists of more than 50 percent by weight and more than 70 percent by volume of carbonaceous material. It is formed from plant remains that have been compacted, hardened, chemically altered, and metamorphosed by heat and pressure over geologic time.
Cogeneration: The sequential production of electricity and useful thermal energy from a common fuel source. Also known as Combined heat and power (CHP).
Cogenerator: A generating facility that produces electricity and another form of useful thermal energy (such as heat or steam), used for industrial, commercial, heating, or cooling purposes.
Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL): an energy savings alternative to the traditional light bulb.
Compressed Natural Gas: a fossil fuel substitute for gasoline (petroleum) consisting mostly of methane (CH4).
Concentrated Solar Power: A method of concentrating solar energy and converting it to thermal power. One approach is to use curved mirrors focus the sunlight on a tube containing a liquid or gas. This gas/fluid can be run immediately through a turbine or stored for future use.
Conflict of Interest: a perceived or actual situation in which an individual or organization is involved in multiple interests, one of which could possibly corrupt the motivation for an act in another.
90 Conservation: Efficiency of energy use, production, transmission, or distribution that results in a decrease of energy consumption while providing the same level of service.
Cooperative: an autonomous association of persons who voluntarily cooperate for their mutual social, economic, and cultural benefit
Current (Electric): A flow of electrons in an electrical conductor. The strength or rate of movement of the electricity is measured in amperes.
Daylighting: The practice of using natural light to provide internal lighting.
Decoupling: A regulatory approach to regulating monopolies whereby the profits of a utility are independent of the income of the utility.
Demand-Side Management: The planning, implementation, and monitoring of utility activities designed to encourage consumers to modify patterns of electricity usage, including the timing and level of electricity demand.
Diesel Engine: A compression-ignition piston engine in which fuel is ignited by injecting it into air that has been heated (unlike a spark-ignition engine).
Direct Current (DC): Electric current that flows in one direction only.
Distributed Generation: Generation located at or near where it is needed. Also known as on-site generation, dispersed generation, embedded generation, decentralized generation, and decentralized energy.
District heating or cooling: A system that involves the central production of hot water, steam, or chilled water, and the distribution of these transfer media to heat or cool buildings.
E85: A blend of 15 percent gasoline and 85 percent denatured ethanol by volume.
Economic Multiplier: The rate at which an input changes an output. For example, an added dollar invested within Hawaii will ripple through the economy just as a rock dropped in a pond creates ripples across the pond. The added dollar may increase the state’s economic activity by $3-4 dollars.
Electricity: A form of energy produced by the flow or accumulation of electrons.
Electron: A subatomic particle with a negative electrical change.
Energy: The ability to do work.
Energy Agreement: The major document that forms the basis for the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative (HCEI). The agreement was signed in October 2008.
91 Energy Crops: Crops grown specifically for their fuel value. These can include corn, sugarcane, switchgrass, soybeans and algae.
Energy Efficiency means doing the same work with less energy. Energy efficiency is often thought of as the “low hanging fruit.” It is better to not produce energy in the first place and if it is produced, to use less of it.
Energy Efficiency Path: a scenario focused on reducing the demand for grid- based electricity through conservation and efficiency. It offers the quickest payback period for investors.
Energy Storage: A method of storing energy for future use.
Ethanol: Ethyl alcohol produced by fermentation and distillation. An alcohol compound with the chemical formula CH3-CH2-0H formed during sugar fermentation by yeast. Also known as grain alcohol.
Externality: A cost or benefit not accounted for in the price of goods or services. Often "externality" refers to the cost of pollution and other environmental impacts.
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC): A quasi-independent regulatory agency within the Department of Energy having jurisdiction over interstate electricity sales, wholesale electric rates, hydroelectric licensing, natural gas pricing, oil pipeline rates, and gas pipeline certification.
Feed-in Tariffs (FiTs): A method whereby small self-generating customers can sell electricity to the grid. Two meters are used, one to purchase electricity and one to sell electricity. Different rates apply to each meter.
Firm Power: Power or power-producing capacity intended to be available all of the time.
Fischer-Tropsch Fuels: Liquid hydrocarbon fuels produced by a process that combines carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The process is used to convert coal, natural gas and low-value refinery products into a high-value diesel substitute fuel.
Flexible-fuel vehicle: A vehicle with a single fuel tank designed to run on varying blends of unleaded gasoline, ethanol and/or methanol
Fracking (hydrofracking): An industrial technology involving the injection of water and chemicals into a bore hole to induce hydraulic fracturing
Fossil-Fuel: Coal, petroleum, and natural gas.
Fuel: Any substance that can be burned or fissioned to produce heat or converted to useful energy.
92 Fuel Cell: A device that converts the chemical energy of a fuel directly to electricity and heat, without combustion.
Game Changers: Technology that suddenly alters desired solutions, including: (1) Hybrid vehicles and electric transportation with using Vehicle to Grid (V2G) technology; (2) Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion; and (3) batteries and storage mechanisms.
Gas Engine: A piston engine that uses gaseous fuel rather than gasoline. Fuel and air are mixed before they enter cylinders; ignition occurs with a spark.
Gas Turbine: (combustion turbine) A turbine that converts the energy of hot compressed gases (produced by burning fuel in compressed air) into mechanical power.
Gasification: A chemical or heat process to convert a solid fuel to a gaseous form.
Gasifier: A device for converting solid fuel into gaseous fuel.
Gasohol: A motor vehicle fuel which is a blend of 90 percent unleaded gasoline with 10 percent ethanol (by volume); term used in the late 1970s.
Generator: A machine used for converting rotating mechanical energy to electrical energy.
Geothermal energy: Energy derived from the natural heat of the Earth contained in hot rocks, hot water, hot brines or steam.
Geothermal Heat Pump (GHP): A method of using the temperature of the earth to regulate temperature within buildings.
Geothermal Plant: A plant in which the prime mover is a steam turbine. The turbine is driven either by steam produced from hot water or by natural steam that derives its energy from heat found in rocks or fluids at various depths beneath the surface of the earth. The energy is extracted by drilling and/or pumping.
Gigawatt (GW): One billion watts.
Gigawatthour (GWh): One billion watt-hours.
Greenhouse Effect: The increasing mean global surface temperature of the earth caused by gases in the atmosphere (including carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, and chlorofluorocarbon). The greenhouse effect allows solar radiation to penetrate but absorbs the infrared radiation returning to space.
Grid: An electric utility´s system for transmitting and distributing power.
93 Hawai`i Clean Energy Initiative (HCEI): A Hawai`i initiative for transforming energy delivery. HCEI stresses strengthening the utility monopoly, streamlining regulations, building a Smart Grid, switching from oil to biofuel and building an inter-island cable.
Hawai`i Energy Policy Forum (HEPF): A coalition of several dozen energy players initially formed in 2002 by HECO. Initial funding of $250,000 was provided by HECO following the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) rejection of HECO’s proposed Wa`ahila 138-kV Transmission Line.
Hawaii’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP): a measure of the total goods and services produced within Hawaii.
Hawaii’s Gross State Product (GSP): a measure of the total goods and services produced by Hawai`i residents.
Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO): The Hawai`i electric utility which serves all counties except Kauai.
Heat Rate: The amount of fuel energy required by a power plant to produce one kilowatt-hour of electrical output.
High Tech Path: a scenario focused on using the internet, computers, and two- way real-time information exchanges. Time of use rates encourage users to decrease energy use during traditional peak periods.
Horizontal Wind Turbines: The traditional large-scale wind turbine where the main rotor shaft and electrical generator are placed at the top of a tower, and must be pointed into the wind to generate power.
Hybrid electric vehicle: A vehicle that is powered by two or more energy sources, one of which is electricity.
Hydroelectric Plant: A plant in which the turbine generators are driven by falling water.
Hydrogen: The lightest element constituting roughly 75% of the Universe's chemical elemental mass. Hydrogen only exists on this planet in compound form. The vast majority of hydrogen used in industry is derived from fossil fuels.
Hydroelectric power (hydropower): The generation of electricity using falling water.
Hydraulic fracturing: The propagation of fractures in a rock layer caused by the presence of a pressurized fluid.
94 Incinerator: Any device used to burn solid or liquid residues or wastes as a method of disposal. In some incinerators, provisions are made for recovering the heat produced.
Independent Power Producer: A power production facility that is not part of a regulated utility. Unlike traditional electric utilities, Independent Power Producers do not possess transmission facilities or sell electricity in the retail market.
Independent System Operator: An independent entity that manages an electric grid.
Investor-owned utility: (IOU) A private power company owned by and responsible to its shareholders, such as Hawaiian Electric Company.
Jevons Effect: This paradox suggests that increasing energy efficiency is great as an economic tool to promote economic growth, but its adoption will not lead to a decrease in energy consumption, but rather can lead to an increase in energy consumption. The Jevons Effect is also known as the Jevons Paradox and the Khazzoom-Brookes Postulate.
Kilowatt (kW): One thousand watts.
Kilowatt-hour (kWh): One thousand watt-hours.
Landfill gas: Gas that is generated by decomposition of organic material at landfill disposal sites. Landfill gas is approximately 50 percent methane.
Levelized life-cycle cost: The present value of the total cost of a resource. By levelizing costs, resources with different lifetimes and generating capabilities can be compared.
Life-cycle costing: A method of comparing costs of equipment or buildings based on original costs plus all operating and maintenance costs over the useful life of the equipment. Future costs are discounted.
Light Emitting Diode: a semiconductor light source.
Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG): Natural gas cooled to −260 °F, shrinking its volume 600-fold. This allows for easier transport.
Load (Electric): The amount of electric power delivered or required at any specific point or points on a system. The requirement originates at the energy-consuming equipment of the consumers.
Load factor: Load factor is the ratio of average demand to maximum demand or to capacity.
95 Load Management: Any method or device that evens out electric power demand by eliminating uses during peak periods or shifting usage from peak time to off- peak time.
Macro Path: a scenario focused on an interisland grid inter-connecting the grids of the Big Island, Maui, and Oahu and utilizing wind and geothermal to power the grid. The path stresses streamlining regulation and building infrastructure rather than implementing an immediate renewable energy solution.
Megawatt: (MW) The electrical unit of power that equals one million Watts (1,000 kW).
Megawatt (MW): One million watts.
Megawatt hour (MWh): One million watt-hours.
Methane: An odorless, colorless, flammable gas with the formula CH4 that is the primary constituent of natural gas.
Methanol: Methyl alcohol having the chemical formula CH30H. Methanol is usually produced by chemical conversion at high temperatures and pressures. Also wood alcohol. Although usually produced from natural gas, methanol can be produced from gasified biomass (syngas).
Micro-CSP: A proprietary Concentrated Solar Power system developed by Sopogy.
Micro Path: a scenario focused on distributed power -- small grids powered by rooftop wind and solar, supplemented by small waste oil to biodiesel facilities.
Monopoly: One seller of electricity with control over market sales; absence of competition.
Municipal solid waste: (MSW) Garbage. Refuse offering the potential for energy recovery; includes residential, commercial, and institutional wastes.
National Environmental Policy Act: (NEPA) A federal law enacted in 1970 that requires all federal agencies to consider and analyze the environmental impacts of any proposed action.
Natural Gas: A naturally occurring mixture of hydrocarbon and non-hydrocarbon gases found in porous geological formations beneath the earth's surface, often in association with petroleum. The principal constituent is methane (CH4).
Net Metering: A method of allowing a self-generator to use the grid as a battery. During the day a customer is generating more energy than needed and the excess is sold to the grid. At night the customer is taking energy from the grid. The system uses one meter and the customer pays only for the net energy used. At the end of
96 the year the system is zeroed out – any excess energy given to the grid without compensation.
Non-Firm Power: Power or power-producing capacity supplied or available under a commitment having limited or no assured availability.
Ocean Path: a scenario focused Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) supplemented by Sea Water Air Conditioning (SWAC) and Wave Energy Conversion Systems (WECs).
Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion: A method of generating electricity from different temperature layers in the ocean.
Ocean Wave Energy: A method of generating electricity from the rising and falling of the ocean, technically, the ocean swells and not the waves.
Oil: See Petroleum
Organic compounds: Chemical compounds based on carbon chains or rings and also containing hydrogen, with or without oxygen, nitrogen, and other elements.
Peak Demand: The maximum load during a specified period of time.
Petroleum: One of the three types of fossil fuels, along with coal and gas.
Phantom Power: The electricity used by a device when it is off. Often devices use almost as much electricity in the off position, which is a "consumer" convenience allowing quick starts.
Photovoltaic: A system that converts direct sunlight to electricity using semi- conductor materials.
Power: The rate at which energy is transferred. Electrical energy is usually measured in watts. Also used for a measurement of capacity.
Power Purchase Agreements: A contract between an energy producer and an energy user.
Preferred Path: a scenario involving a combination of (1) Distributed Generation based on solar and concentrated solar power; (2) central station wind and wave; (3) energy displacement via energy efficiency and sea water air conditioning; (4) small scale waste oil and crop-based biodiesel.
Public Utilities Commission (PUC), Public Service Commission (PSC):A governmental agency that regulates utilities for the public interest.
Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act: (PURPA) A federal law requiring a utility to buy the power produced by a qualifying facility at a price equal to that which the
97 utility would otherwise pay if it were to build its own power plant or buy power from another source.
Pumped-Storage: A process that generates electric energy during peak-load periods by using water previously pumped into an elevated storage reservoir during off-peak periods when excess generating capacity is available to pump the water. When additional generating capacity is needed, the water is released from the reservoir through a conduit to turbine generators located in a power plant at a lower level.
Pyrolysis: The thermal decomposition of biomass at high temperatures (greater than 400 degrees Fahrenheit, or 200 degrees Celsius) in the absence of air.
Renewable energy: Energy that is replenished continuously in nature or that is replaced after use through natural means; a sustainable energy source; renewable energy sources include the sun, the winds, flowing water, waves, biomass and geothermal energy.
Sea Water Air Conditioning: Using cold ocean water to cool buildings and commercial facilities.
Sequestration Path: a scenario focused on business-as-usual fossil fuel approach while seeking to dispose of the waste products in an environmentally acceptable way.
Smart Grid: A new term that describes multiple high tech approaches to managing the grid.
Solar: the popular name for Photovoltaics (PV). PV is a method of generating electrical power by converting solar radiation into direct current electricity using semiconductors that exhibit the photovoltaic effect.
Solar Water Heaters: systems that use solar energy to heat water stored in tanks.
Storage Path: a scenario focused on building an electric transportation system which can send power between electric vehicles and the utility grid. Batteries can steady the output of intermittent renewable energy sources such as solar and wind, while providing power to electric vehicles and the grid.
Syngas: A syntheses gas produced through gasification of biomass. Syngas is similar to natural gas and can be cleaned and conditioned to form a feedstock for production of methanol.
Thermochemical conversion process: Chemical reactions employing heat to produce fuels.
98 Transmission: The process of long-distance transport of electrical energy, generally accomplished by raising the electric current to high voltages.
Turbine: A machine for generating rotary mechanical power from the energy of a stream of fluid (such as water, steam, or hot gas). Turbines convert the kinetic energy of fluids to mechanical energy through the principles of impulse and reaction, or a mixture of the two.
Vertical Wind Turbine: small wind turbines which rotate vertically around a central pole.
Volt — a unit of electrical power
Voltage — a type of "pressure" that drives electrical charges through a circuit.
Watt: The electrical unit of power. Watt equals volts x amps.
Watt-hour (Wh): An electrical energy unit of measure equal to 1 watt of power supplied to, or taken from, an electric circuit steadily for 1 hour.
Wave Energy: The use of only wave energy (ocean swells) in conjunction with batteries (storage) that could achieve energy self-sufficiency for all non- transportation needs: i.e., heat, light, electricity. The technology offers Hawai`i the greatest opportunity to get off fossil fuel.
Wayfinding: The traditional navigation methods used by indigenous peoples of Polynesia. In more modern times, Wayfinding has been used to refer to the user experience of orientation and choosing a path.
Wind Energy: the conversion of wind energy into a useful form of energy, such as using wind turbines to make electricity, windmills for mechanical power, windpumps for water pumping or drainage, or sails to propel ships.
Wind-Pumped Storage Hydro (WPSH): An energy storage method whereby wind energy pumps water uphill. The water can be dropped to create hydropower.
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