Hawaii’s wealthiest resident, Pierre Omidyar, through his investment firm Ulupono Initiative, is now the majority owner of Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning, the company planning to use cold water from deep in the ocean to cool downtown buildings.
"This additional investment positions us as the majority owner and further solidifies our commitment to bringing this exciting technology to the state," said Murray Clay, managing partner of Ulupono Initiative.
Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning plans to pump water through a pipeline more than 4 miles offshore to a cooling station in Kakaako.
Ulupono will now own more than 60 percent of Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning. Renewable Energy Innovations, a subsidiary of Minnesota-based energy conservation company Ever-Green Energy, and Stockholm-based energy management company Capital Cooling Group will remain minority investors in the company.
In 2013, Ulupono provided a $1 million investment to help Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning begin construction in 2014.
The $250 million project was proposed over a decade ago, and its tentative construction date has been pushed back several times due to financing and other problems. In 2012, Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning expected groundbreaking by the end of the year and projected that the system would be operating by 2014.
The company changed the construction date to 2016 to allow various other pieces to be added, said a Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning spokesman.
The company now plans to begin construction in August.
Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning is confident in the new start date given Ulupono’s investment, said David Pettinger, a Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning spokesman.
The project has a lot of potential, and, through its investment, Ulupono wants to help the company reach its latest construction date, said Amy Hennessey, spokeswoman for Ulupono Initiative.
"They have done a great job signing on customers, and we hope this may help," Hennessey said.
Omidyar wasn’t directly involved in the investment, said Hennessey. Omidyar and his wife, Pam, are the founders and sole sponsors of the Ulupono Initiative, which invests in food, energy and waste projects in Hawaii. Omidyar, 47, has an estimated net worth of $8 billion.
Once in place, the district cooling system can eliminate the need for 178,000 barrels of oil per year by saving enough electricity to power more than 10,000 homes, said Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning.
"This system will not only promote a more self-sufficient energy future for the state; it will also markedly reduce our carbon footprint and save significant amounts of fresh water when compared to conventional cooling," said Anders Sjoholm, president of Capital Cooling North America, a co-investor in the project. Capital Cooling’s parent company built a similar system in Stockholm.
Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning recently added the Prince Kuhio Federal Building and Remington College to the list of customers that have signed up for the service.
Other customers include First Hawaiian Center, Hawaiian Electric Co., One Waterfront Towers and Finance Factors.
The change in ownership will not affect the staff size, and Eric Masutomi will remain in his position as chief executive officer, said Pettinger.
"It’s very exciting for us to have this strong vote of support from both Ulupono Initiative and Capital Cooling," Masutomi said.
"We’ve gained a lot of momentum from the recent signings of the Prince Kuhio Federal Building, Remington College and several other yet-to-be-announced downtown properties," he said. "With majority ownership of the company now vested with locally based Ulupono, Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning is well positioned to increase our customer base and bring to reality the vision and benefits of district cooling for Honolulu."
