I was invited to visit the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) by its Board Chairman Phil Tacbian. He and Dennis Esaki, who is Vice President of the founding Board, gave me an orientation.
Kauai Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) is a not-for-profit generation, transmission and distribution cooperative owned and controlled by the members it serves. Headquartered in Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii, the cooperative currently serves more than 32,000 electric accounts throughout Kauai. Committed to reinventing how Kauai is powered, KIUC is aggressively pursuing diversification of its energy portfolio to include a growing percentage of hydropower, photovoltaic, bio-fuel, and biomass.
It was my first visit and I had a very favorable impression of their corporate culture. This is a model that aligns the interest of the people with the interest of the utility. It’s evident that the employees are proud of their organization. They are coming up on their 10th anniversary celebration.
I toured the Kapaia Power Station. It includes a General Electric LM2500PH steam-injected combustion turbine. The unit can burn either naphtha or No. 2 fuel oil. Steam is injected at approximately 10,000#/hr for NOx control and 56,000#/hr for power augmentation. It appeared to me to be unique in its use of steam injection to enhance power generation. A small part of the CO2 was transported next door to an open raceway algae farm.
Back in 2002, KIUC agreed to pay Citizens Communications of Connecticut $215 million for Kauai Electric’s assets. The National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation (CFC) had approved loans to KIUC for up to the total purchase price, plus they had a $25 million secured line of credit and a $60 million disaster recovery line of credit, which was from FEMA following Hurricane Iniki, which had happened 10 years earlier.
The combination of having a very willing seller, plus a line of credit from FEMA, was very helpful.
It did not appear there was much funding for infrastructure upgrades.
It’s clear to me that it took countless hours of volunteer time, plus careful analysis and implementation, to bring KIUC to this place it is at 10 years later. It was certainly not easy then, nor now, and the work continues. I was very impressed.