Geothermal gaining ground with public

Greater acceptance of geothermal development among Native Hawaiians and other community members will allow the renewable resource to play a significant role in the state’s transition to clean energy, government and private-sector officials say.

Developers have shown a strong interest in building geothermal projects on Hawaii island and Maui, where electrical utilities have plans to buy up to 100 megawatts of electricity from independent power producers. One hundred megawatts is enough to power 65,000 homes.

The new push marks Hawaii’s first substantial expansion in geothermal energy production since 1993, when Puna Geothermal Ventures on Hawaii island launched the state’s only commercially successful geothermal plant.

But the effort to develop geothermal resources in Hawaii has not always gone smoothly. Community members in the 1990s fought development of a geothermal project planned for the Wao Kele o Puna rain forest on Hawaii island. Several hundred people were arrested and led away in handcuffs during a protest at the site. The plan eventually was scrapped, and no new geothermal project has been developed in Hawaii since then.

The developer at the time made a series of missteps, including not seeking community input, said Patricia Brandt, whose Innovations Development Group plans to submit a bid to develop 50 megawatts of geothermal power on Hawaii island. IDG, which specializes in socially responsible energy development, held a series of community meetings last year to present its plan and solicit public input.

"We got a better reception than we thought," Brandt said. "We surveyed everyone and listened to the questions they had. The response was 98 percent positive. That’s a big change from what was happening 20 years ago," said Brandt, who is Native Hawaiian.

Honolulu-based IDG has developed three geothermal energy proj­ects on Maori trust lands in New Zealand.

Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz, the Abercrombie administration’s point man on renewable energy, said in an interview Tuesday he is encouraged by the shift in attitude toward geothermal development.

"I think the context has changed. Not everybody is persuaded that geothermal energy is the way to go, but we do have growing support, including the Native Hawaiian community," he said.

"This conversation needs to continue, and we need to listen to folks who may have reservations. But the fact that many Native Hawaiian individuals and organizations are stepping up and saying that there is a way to participate in this that is respectful is encouraging."

The addition of 50 megawatts of geothermal power on Hawaii island is expected to provide some relief to the island’s high electrical bills because of the relatively low cost of producing geothermal energy. Customers of Hawaii Electric Light Co. paid 41.3 cents a kilowatt-hour for electricity in March.

Although the price for the 50 megawatts of geothermal power has yet to be determined, HELCO recently negotiated with Puna Geothermal Ventures to buy power for as little as 6 cents a kilowatt-hour. But that price is available only for power that is being produced from an eight-mega­watt expansion of the geothermal plant.

The bulk of the geothermal energy produced at the plant — about 25 megawatts — is priced under an old "avoided cost" system in which HELCO pays PGV a price equivalent to what it pays to generate electricity by burning oil.

HELCO also pays avoided cost to independent power producers for electricity generated by a 10.5-megawatt wind project in Hawi and a 20.5-megawatt wind project at South Point.

Schatz toured the PGV plant and other facilities on Hawaii island last week as part of statewide assessment of the state’s renewable energy capacity. He traveled to Maui two weeks ago and plans to visit Kauai in the coming weeks.