PUC must lead the way to Hawaii’s energy future

If Hawaii is ever to free itself from the polluting and ruinously expensive process of burning oil and coal to make electricity, the first shots in the revolution will have to be fired by the state’s own Public Utilities Commission.

Today, the new commission chairwoman, Hermina Morita, the former veteran Kauai state House member, says Hawaii must act because the entire energy landscape is changing.

Energy experts such as Amory Lovins, chairman of the Rocky Mountain Institute and called by Time magazine "one of the world’s most influential people" on energy policy, said there is an avalanche of change already tumbling down on us.

"The electrical sector — the most capital-intensive, complex, and vital part of the economy — is facing more numerous, diverse, and profound disruptions than any other sector, as 21st-century speed collides with 20th-century and even 19th-century rules, institutions and culture," Lovins said in the industry magazine, Public Utilities Fortnightly.

Morita said that in Hawaii, "the whole energy system is undergoing a huge transformation."

She explained that for the last 10 years, the concern has been on making clean energy: solar or wind energy. Now that is changing.

"We are in Clean Energy 2.0, and instead of looking at it on a project-by-project basis, we are talking about the entire system and how the entire system is integrated," Morita said.

Henry Curtis, Life of the Land executive director, said the Public Utilities Commission "currently has more on its plate than ever before, and some of the issues are vastly complex, with the potential of very significant unintended side effects."

Lorraine Akiba, a PUC commissioner, said the search now is for "a different type of electrical system."

"Transmission and distribution may not be like the 1950s," said Akiba, an attorney and former member of Gov. Ben Cayetano’s Cabinet. "It may not be the lines- and-plant model. There are micro-grids, distributed generation.

"There is change to the system as a whole; it is almost like this is an ecosystem of energy," Akiba added.

All those solar panels on rooftops are "distributed energy."

Folding distributed energy into the system is becoming a big issue, Morita and Akiba said.

Next up is the smart grid. Kauai has 30,000 smart meters attached to homes that constantly update the electric co-op about usage patterns.

Morita, who lives on Kauai, recalled that earlier this year, her husband called to say their power went out after a storm.

"He said, I called Kauai Electric to tell them, and the guy says, ‘I know, I am looking at your house right now,’" Morita said.

Besides telling the power company who is or who is not getting power, a smart meter can be used to balance out electrical loads, perhaps turning off water heaters for a few hours at night to balance out loads, Morita suggested.

Other changes are coming.

Renters next year may be included in the mix of people with either solar water heaters or entire photovoltaic systems on their roofs.

The plan is to allow the cost to be included in the monthly electric bill, with the stipulation that the energy savings would match the cost of installing the system, so it would save energy and not cost more money.

If Hawaii is to show national leadership, the field of clean energy generation and planning would be a natural place to start, and the PUC will be the laboratory.

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Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.