A West Hawaii legislator would like to see a moratorium on approving new power purchase agreements that do not decrease the cost of electricity until the state irons out details on how it should pursue its renewable energy goals. A
A West Hawaii legislator would like to see a moratorium on approving new power purchase agreements that do not decrease the cost of electricity until the state irons out details on how it should pursue its renewable energy goals.
Rep. Denny Coffman, D-Keauhou, Kailua-Kona, Honokohau, said he has concerns about the Aina Koa Pono proposal, which would create a 20-year power purchase agreement with Hawaii Electric Light Co. and increase electricity rates while the company made biodiesel at a Ka‘u plant. Those concerns, and the idea that the state’s electricity providers could get locked into long-term contracts to purchase power at rates well above the average oil price, prompted Coffman to ask the Public Utilities Commission to hold off approving any such agreements until the commission completes its Integrated Resources Plan.
“I’m really concerned with these long-term contracts they’re issuing,” Coffman said of the Hawaii Electric Industries companies, which includes HELCO, and counterparts on Oahu and Maui. “We’ve done a great job of touting ourselves as having the most aggressive renewable energy policy in the country.”
But the end result hasn’t lowered consumers’ electricity prices, nor has it led to HEI replacing its oil-based electricity generation system around the island, he said.
He said he’s spoken with some HEI officials about Aina Koa Pono in particular. Those officials told him consumers don’t pay the Aina Koa Pono surcharges until the plant goes into production. The microwave technology Aina Koa Pono wants to use to convert grasses and other plants into biofuel is untested, Coffman said.
“If they don’t produce it, we’re stuck with regular oil,” Coffman asked.
The PUC was working on an integrated resource plan, he said, but an agreement with energy producers put the plan on hold for several years. The chances of the PUC agreeing to hold off any more power purchase agreement proposals is 50-50, Coffman said.
The push to decrease electricity rates is one Coffman’s opponent in the November General Election for the state’s 5th House District seat agrees with. Republican Dave Bateman said he shares Coffman’s concerns about Aina Koa Pono, particularly because he doesn’t see any cost savings coming from biofuels. The biofuels in production now cost about five times more than the oil being used now, Bateman said.
“Biofuels are not the answer,” he said. “What we’re after is energy that’s cost-effective.”
He said he doesn’t agree with Coffman that the PUC should put a hold on approving power purchase agreements. Bateman said he would rather see a shift in policy that allows more people to install solar panels on their homes, for example, as well as improvements in battery storage technology that allows those people to use more of the power they generate. He wants HELCO and other utilities to pay solar producers more for the energy a homeowner puts back in the grid, and to see the price of electricity drop back to about 20 cents per kilowatt hour, the price paid on the Big Island a decade ago. If more people are producing their own electricity, via solar panels, eventually the PUC will have less to regulate, he said.
In general, Bateman said, he would like to see the PUC issuing decisions that are more helpful for consumers than previous decisions have been.
Both candidates are geothermal energy proponents. Another geothermal supporter, farmer Richard Ha, is rallying Big Island residents to oppose Aina Koa Pono and build consensus to moving toward policies that lower electricity prices. He said he supports the idea of a PUC moratorium on power purchase agreements that do not lower electric rates.
Ha is a steering committee member for the newly formed Big Island Community Coalition, which emphasizes local energy production, using local resources, as the top way to reach that goal.
Ha said he believes the PUC will listen when Hawaii Island residents begin making their concerns known.
“We don’t have a choice,” he said.
Ha is critical of Aina Koa Pono’s proposal.
“We need to be employing lower-cost, proven technology,” he said.
