07-13-2008, 06:29 AM
I bumped this up after I had a long talk last night with a person who knows what they are talking about with the geothermal in Puna.
I was under the mistaken impression that the only thing holding this back was HELCO. It seemed reasonable that HELCO would be against it and any home owners nearby.
One of the things I learned last night was that from the beginning - the well experts in the 1970's told the then co to not build there. That with the rift zone etc - that it was the least viable place to put geothermal of almost anywhere on the island. As I understood, there were suggestions made to put it in Kawaihae and Kona. The Lyman family (as I was told - beware could be just Puna legend) lobbied for geothermal to buy their land and so it ended up located on Lyman land. (For which they got a pretty penny!)
The story continued that they have had some serious problems in the past. (I knew this part). But that other not in the news problems have surfaced such as the extreme corrosion in the piping system from the salt water which would be a problem any where - but when you put add in the seimic activity near a rift zone dooms the piping to quicker failure. From the story, it seemed that PGV is not able to provide a stable supply of power for long periods such as more than 18 months.
Thought I would share this version as maybe geothermal isn't as easy as just gettign lines converted. (not that thats easy!)
This was the first time I had heard this part mentioned. I was under the impression that the location was the optimum spot. Who knew that money was involved??
I was under the mistaken impression that the only thing holding this back was HELCO. It seemed reasonable that HELCO would be against it and any home owners nearby.
One of the things I learned last night was that from the beginning - the well experts in the 1970's told the then co to not build there. That with the rift zone etc - that it was the least viable place to put geothermal of almost anywhere on the island. As I understood, there were suggestions made to put it in Kawaihae and Kona. The Lyman family (as I was told - beware could be just Puna legend) lobbied for geothermal to buy their land and so it ended up located on Lyman land. (For which they got a pretty penny!)
The story continued that they have had some serious problems in the past. (I knew this part). But that other not in the news problems have surfaced such as the extreme corrosion in the piping system from the salt water which would be a problem any where - but when you put add in the seimic activity near a rift zone dooms the piping to quicker failure. From the story, it seemed that PGV is not able to provide a stable supply of power for long periods such as more than 18 months.
Thought I would share this version as maybe geothermal isn't as easy as just gettign lines converted. (not that thats easy!)
This was the first time I had heard this part mentioned. I was under the impression that the location was the optimum spot. Who knew that money was involved??