O‘ahu owns us!

In a HECO press release yesterday:

Hawaiian Electric Co. is looking for long-term suppliers of biofuels derived from Hawaii feedstocks for its generation sites statewide.

The company’s request for proposals includes land or water-based crops, waste animal fat or yellow grease feedstocks that can be converted to liquid biofuel for power sites on Oahu, Maui, Molokai, Lanai and the Big Island.

“This call for proposals sends a clear market signal to landowners and agricultural interests that if they plant today they will be able to sell their products for a reasonable return on their investment and effort tomorrow,” said Robbie Alm, Hawaiian Electric executive vice president, in a prepared statement Thursday.

A reasonable rate of return on their investment? What about the goals of the ratepayer to get cheap electricity? Everyone knows that biofuels are expensive – more expensive than oil and way more expensive than geothermal. In New Zealand, geothermal electricity is produced for 5 cents per KWH.

Again O‘ahu is making decisions for the Big Island, and the people here resent it very much. Lots of folks I talk to feel that we would be better off with our electric company being a co-op, like on Kaua‘i. At least they make their own decisions.

The view from Bishop Street is very different than the view from Kino‘ole St.

I attended the first meeting of the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative (HCEI) steering committee Wednesday. I think that the HCEI steering committee will serve a good function. But I raised these concerns:

I said that I do not believe that we should use a one-size fits all approach – after all, each island has a different set of resources. I
said that I worried that the subsidies floating around would prevent the Big Island’s use of geothermal, which we know to be the cheapest source of electricity. The Big Island has the lowest median family income and it’s the folks on the lowest rung of the economic ladder whose lights will be turned off first.

We cannot afford to be separated into the haves and have-nots. If we go down that road, it will tear our society apart. Hawaiians complain all the time that the game is rigged in favor of those who have the money.

But choosing geothermal is not the same as giving charity to the rubbah slippah folks. Cheap electricity means people will have discretionary income to spend, businesses will flourish and folks will have jobs by which to raise their families. It benefits us all. And besides low electric cost, it is the only renewable energy source that gives royalties to Hawaiians.

I am not surprised by HECO’s announcement. I was just waiting for it to happen. And it happened before the HCEI steering committee was able to make decisions.

The world has changed. Now, when we have the ability to make the right choice, we must not go down that road where we separate into have and have-nots. If we do that, we put our society in danger of coming apart. In that case, we would be better off to be a co-op like Kaua‘i.