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quote:
Originally posted by Obie
The EPA is forcing Helco to start burning diesel fuel to lessen the amount of SO2 in the air to protect the pristine air in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
http://hawaiitribune-herald.com/sections...sions.html
The situation is there are two refineries right now, Tesoro and Chevron. Tesoro shuts down this month, leaving Chevron. Even if Chevron ends up being the monopoly for all oil products, the EPA is imposing tougher requirements for refineries to upgrade. This is too expensive of an upgrade for Chevron plus it is a fact that solar PV is decreasing the consumption of oil products.
There is this weird urban legend in Hawaii that it needs to import oil to refine into jet fuel anyway, so the bunker oil for the bunker oil-electric power plants ends up costing nothing. This is moronic hokum. The refineries buy foreign imported oil, then crack it into the various products used on the islands. HELCO is investigating biodiesel and that is why you suddenly started seeing some small emissions from the Puna plant. It isn't working out, there apparently is a high acid content with the current feedstock. It is turning out biodiesel combustion results in more complex byproducts in its emissions due to nitrogen and acids in feedstock:
http://cdn.intechopen.com/pdfs/23678/InT...oducts.pdf
Otherwise, HELCO has to buy the distilled bunker oil, or more commonly known as fuel oil, from the refinery. For the Big Island, that is still over 60% of the electricity supply and that is using the fuel oil being transferred from Oahu by Young brothers. Tell me that doesn't cost anything. That is why the electric rate is where it is at, it is based on all the electricity being produced from fuel-oil burning electric plants. That is what ACC did, it tied the electric rate indirectly to a barrel of oil. However, it isn't directly linked because there is a local refinery in-between and Chevron will say the closing of Tessoro is making it more expensive for them to produce refinery products.
"This island Hawaii on this island Earth"
*Japanese tourist on bus through Pahoa, "Is this still America?*
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quote:
Originally posted by rainshadow
quote:
Originally posted by kalakoa
Regulatory problem: only HELCO can sell power across a TMK boundary, making it "illegal" for a small community to build their own micro-grid -- while you might argue that a power co-op isn't technically a "sale", HELCO has the money, lawyers, and political connections to make sure you're wrong.
I find this incredibly sad; I'm sure you're right though. We're (us humans) once again shooting ourselves in the foot. I know of a couple communities on the mainland that have opted for communal solar as a power source, and it's working really well for those people. It's frustrating to be chained to someones bank account, with no choice in the matter (as a community). Unless of course there's very deep pocketses available.
-- rainshadow
I was wondering how that would work as I talked to the airgensis people aways back and about 3 acres would supply enough power for the houses in the subdivision I live in. So in reality you cant really form a co-op or try to divest yourself from Helco except via solar or generators....
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Kauai has a community cooperative electric utility, completely separate from Hawaiian Electric. It is non-profit, so we can throw the greed motivator out. And guess what? Their electric rates are HIGHER than the Big Island, supposedly under the grips of an evil, greed motivated HELCO, 43 cents per kilowatt-hour:
http://kauai.coopwebbuilder.com/sites/ka...e_data.pdf
Maui is fed up with MECO and they are looking at forming their own cooperative municipal utility. Besides going through all the legal hoops and hurdles, it is possible. But this is the key sentence in this article:
"“People need to understand that someone needs to pay the bill,” Watanabe said. “They have to put it to the public and City Council, and put together a plan for the state and make sure to show its impact.”
http://www.hawaiicleanenergyinitiative.o...ility.html
Could Maui form a municipal utility?
I am still a customer of a cooperative electric utility on the mainland and it is no plate of magic poi. Being on the Oregon coast, they continually have power outages, more than here. They have really bad power fluctuations because they are buying on the cheap, including their employees. One fluctuation was so bad, it actually blew up my UPS, along with the PC that was on it. They get their power from Bonneville at 7 cents a kilowatt-hour and charge the customers, who are also the owners, at 11 cents per kilowatt-hour for the first 500 kw-hrs and the rate goes steeply upward from there. Guess what, solar panels don't really work on the Oregon coast. You can burn wood but the EPA is starting to crack down on that. I know Hawaii is for dreaming but please try to understand reality, especially when it comes to technical matters.
"This island Hawaii on this island Earth"
*Japanese tourist on bus through Pahoa, "Is this still America?*
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HELCO isn't against small energy providers feeding-in to the basepower grid. That is what the Pohoiki solar farm does, sells enough grid-tie power for 25 homes in the area. It just takes working through all the regulations and permitting.
Anyway, the news this morning is that OHA voted in favor of IDG and indigenous development of geothermal power. It still depends on HELCO awarding the contract, and apparently, the options are changing all the time, with Ormat offering to increase PGV output by another 25MW along with a bid for a 25MW plant on the west side. IDG will be competing against this and several other bids.
Puna lost all influence regarding the development of geothermal power by the state taking over the permitting. The squawking of the geothermal haters is becoming like the sound of people running their fingernails across a blackboard, with about the same results.
"This island Hawaii on this island Earth"
*Japanese tourist on bus through Pahoa, "Is this still America?*
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Another 25MV from PGV would explain the recent HELCO construction at the top of Ainaloa, it looks like they're cutting part of Hawaiian Acres over to Pahoa.
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And so the industrialization of Puna continues.
I used to listen to a lot of Kalapana, Hapa, and even Jimmy Buffet...
But now I'll probably switch to Rammstien, ChemLab, and Nine Inch Nails, to better fit in.
-- rainshadow
-- rainshadow
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quote:
Originally posted by kalakoa
Another 25MV from PGV would explain the recent HELCO construction at the top of Ainaloa, it looks like they're cutting part of Hawaiian Acres over to Pahoa.
That is something else. PGV is already permitted to go up to 60MW at their existing location, although that will require more wells. Doubt that is HELCO you are talking about but that is interesting. That huge tract of land going from Ainaloa almost to Pahoa is all Hawaiian Homelands. The property IDG is looking at is south of PGV, on a native land trust. It could be they are looking at an office up by the highway.
"This island Hawaii on this island Earth"
*Japanese tourist on bus through Pahoa, "Is this still America?*
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