Richard Ha writes:

At last week’s PUC meeting in Hilo regarding the Hu Honua Bioenergy project slated for Pepe‘ekeo, few members of the public objected to the project.

The hearing was required because HELCO is proposing to relocate a switching station. The proposed site is on a 13-acre parcel that June and I own; they want to buy half of the property. We notified the community associations that this was taking place several months ago, and, as a consequence, I do not plan on submitting personal testimony to the PUC.

At the PUC meeting, the Kamehameha Schools (KS) representative talked about forest products as an industry. What is more practical and proven than using firewood to boil water? This is what we need; it’s practical.

This Big Island Video News video covers the meeting, and here are some things to especially note:

At the 3:00 minute mark, the KS representative expresses how this project could be the catalyst around which a forest industry could grow. Native trees, especially, take a longer time, and so a combination of native and non-native trees could make the forest industry viable.

As a scalable feedstock, trees work on the Hamakua Coast. They’ve been growing for 20 years. KS is crucial to making this big picture work.

Of course we won’t overdo it. Everyone knows what happened to Easter Island. We are talking about balance and proportion.

Early Hawaiians understood this; it’s why they sometimes had a kapu on fishing – in order to prevent overtaxing the resource.

At 6:50, David Tarnas presents Robert Rapier’s testimony. Robert was in Austin at the time, where he was lead speaker on the second day of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil conference. Giorgio Calderone and Jason Jeremiah, both from KS, and Noe Kalipi and I also attended that conference.

Robert lives in Waimea and we would love to claim him, but he is more of a national/international representative. He participates in the HECO Integrated Resource Planning process.

His testimony was that the Big Island needs a firm power alternative to oil, and that biomass and geothermal fit that description. His testimony is that the most efficient way to turn biomass (firewood) to electricity is to burn it.

At the 8:30 mark, Elaine Munro talks about the conflict between HECO’s fiduciary duty to the shareholders and the rate payer. She talks about the cost of capital and how the present model results in unnecessary higher costs to the rate payer. We all know that the model is broken.

Lynn Nakim, at 11:00 minutes, talks about environmental effects. Lynn is a neighbor of ours at Hamakua Springs. She uses solar panels for power.

At the 16:00 minute mark, a worker expresses his opinion. The money stays in Hawai‘i and provides jobs for Big Islanders, instead of being sent to foreign countries to pay foreign workers.

Making firm power electricity is mostly about making steam to turn a turbine. Burning wood to make steam is proven technology and will be cheaper and more stable than oil price in the long run.

From Big Island Video News:

HILO, Hawaii: The public expressed widespread support
for the Hu Honua Bioenergy project at Wednesday night’s Public Utilities Commission hearing in Hilo.

Hu Honua Bioenergy LLC is converting the former Hilo Coast
Power Company plant at Pepeekeo into a modern biomass energy facility. The 24-megawatt operation is expected to meet about 10 percent of the island’s electrical needs and about enough for 14,000 homes, once in operation.

Hu Honua has negotiated a power purchase agreement with
Hawaii Electric Light Company, which is subject to approval by the PUC. However, the hearing was triggered by the need to install transmission lines for the project, as explained by this HELCO engineer.

Nevertheless, the hearing created an opportunity for the public to share its views on the entire project.

Speaking in favor of the proposal, the growing forestry industry on the Hamakua Coast, where thousands of acres on the Hamakua Coast are occupied by Eucalyptus trees, ready for harvest….

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