At a rally earlier this week at Hawaii’s state capitol building, solar advocates including the Hawaii Sierra Club, the Hawaii Solar Energy Association (HSEA) and numerous local solar companies, along with concerned citizens, urged Governor Ige to veto SB 2510. The portion of the bill that is raising ire among opponents is a policy that requires at least 33.33% of renewable energy on each island to be generated by “firm” renewable energy as opposed to intermittent sources such as wind and solar. Some of the island, such as Kauai, are already over the threshold, and would have to halt new construction, cutting jobs and limiting the advancement of solar in the state. Approximately 3,000 people are currently employed in the solar industry in Hawaii.
The bill is also opposed by Tesla, the Hawai‘i Youth Climate Coalition, Environmental Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawaii, Our Revolution Hawaii, 350Hawaii, Beyond Kona, and dozens of other groups.
The primary sponsor of the bill is Senator Donovan M. Dela Cruz (D) who said that “Over-relying on an intermittent source of energy will make it difficult for a utility to provide stated services for its customers… It’s scary to think that we’re going to rely on mostly intermittent. We can do hydro, pumped storage, hydrogen…”
A petition drafted by Jeff Kaemmerlen, CEO of the solar firm Sunspear, says the bill would “tip the scales in favor of expensive and high-emission biomass or biofuel projects and penalize proven solar and storage technologies. This bill picks winners and puts constraints on industry innovation and customer choice.” The petition has gathered nearly 300 signatures to date, with a goal of 500 before sending it to the Governor.
“The Governor’s veto of SB 2510 is essential to prevent a 180-degree turn in the wrong direction for Hawaii energy policy,” said Rocky Mould, executive director of HSEA. “There is no reason to limit solar, especially when solar and battery installations lower consumer energy costs and improve grid reliability.”
Hawaii’s renewable portfolio standard calls for 100% renewables by 2045, an effort to reduce reliance on expensive, imported fossil fuels. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association the state ranked 16th for installed solar in 2021, with nearly 18% of its electricity needs coming from solar. Hawaii currently has the highest electricity rates in the country, currently at 32.76 cents kWh, a jump of 7.6% in the past year. The bill, if passed, would limit the number of residents who could install solar to control their electricity costs.
According to Wayne Tanaka, Director of the Hawai’i Sierra Club, “SB 2510 is a threat to Hawaii’s clean energy future and will slow down our transition away from fossil fuels at the very time that we need to accelerate renewable energy adoption. Allowing SB 2510 to become law would be a terrible mistake.”
Many of those opposed to the bill say that a biomass producer is behind it. “To say we cannot go with cheap alternatives but have to go with more expensive alternatives because someone is being greased, makes no sense,” said Henry Curtis, executive director and vice president for consumer issues of Life of the Land, a non-profit environment group based in Honolulu.
Governor Ige has until June 27 to say whether he is going to veto the bill.
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Well… intermittence of solar (and wind) is wholly predictable. You can address it with one or another kind of storage and it’s as reliable as you need it to be.
Installing an off-grid battery-based system is the only other choice for homeowners not allowed to connect to the grid. Feed all the solar to batteries and the home and none to the grid and if you have a meter, just buy what you need to re-charge your batteries. Fill ‘er up please. RVs have been doing this for years.
Hopefully Governor Ige isn’t one of the ones “being greased” and he’ll veto the bill. Shameful political moves going on everywhere.
Hawaii PUC rejects PPA for biomass power plant By Erin Voegele | May 24, 2022
The Hawaii Public Utilities Commission on May 23 rejected an amended power purchase agreement (PPA) between Hawaii Electric Light Co. Inc. (HELCO) and Hu Honua Bioenergy LLC, the developer of nearly complete 30 megawatt (MW) biomass power plant. In its order denying approval of the amended PPA, the PUC claims that the project would results in significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and said that Hu Honua’s proposed commitment to sequester more GHG emissions than are produced at the plant “relies on speculative assumptions and unsupported assertions.” The order goes on to say that the PUC is not convinced that the project will reduce GHG emission and has concerns about the potentially significant long-term environmental and public health impacts of the project if the amended PPA is approved. The PUC also raised concerns related to costs for ratepayers. Work to develop the biomass-fired power project has been ongoing for more than a decade, with development of the
project nearly complete since at least mid-2020. The facility is located at the site of the former Hilo Coast Power Co. in Pepeekeo, Hawaii, which is located near the eastern coastline of Hawaii’s big island. A sugar mill was developed at the site in 1857. A power facility was added to the site in 1972 and was fired with sugarcane bagasse until sugar production ended in 1994. The power facility continued to operate through 2004 but was fired with coal rather than bagasse. Hu Honau began work to refurbish the plant to produce biomass-based energy more than a decade ago, with plans to fuel the facility with locally grown biomass, including eucalyptus. The PUC approved a PPA between HELCO and Hu Honua in late 2013. The project however faced development delays and legal challenges. HELCO announced plans to terminate that PPA in 2016 as a result of those delays. Hu Honua in 2017 announced that it had reached an agreement with HELCO for an amended PPA, which was approved by the PUC later that year. The PPA was soon challenged by an environmental group. The legal challenge reached the Hawaii Supreme Court, and the court in 2019 rejected the PPA, ruling that the PUC was required to expressly consider the reduction of GHG emissions in its decision making. In June 2019, the PUC reopened a docket related to the PPA. In mid-2022 the PUC issued an order determining that HELCO had not sufficiently supported its request for a waiver of the competitive bidding process for the Hu Honua facility. Such a waiver had previously been approved for the project, but the PUC concluded that that approval had been voided by the Supreme Court ruling. Legal and regulatory wrangling over the PPA continued through the spring of 2022, with the PUC handing down its decision to deny the amended PPA on May 23. Commissioner Leodoloff R. Asuncion, Jr., filed a dissent of the PUC’s decision, arguing that “the evidence clearly establishes that the applicants have met their burden in showing that the project will result in a significant reduction in GHG emissions over the course of the 30-year amended PPA term, and consequently, that the costs of the amended PPA are reasonable in light of the potential for GHG emissions.” A full copy of the PUC’s decision and Leodoloff’s dissent is available on the PUC website.