Kaʻū News Briefs, Tuesday, June 4, 2019

Dead ʻōhiʻa in the Kapāpala Forest Reserve between Pāhala and Volcano. Scientists, land managers, and cultural experts met last week for a conference on Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death, which devastates the native forests. Photo from University of Hawaiʻi Spatial Data Analysis & Visualization Lab

RENEWABLE ENERGY PLUS STORAGE FACILITIES bring Hawaiʻi to the "leading edge" of leaving fossil fuel behind, according to Sen. Mazie Hirono. She touted Hawaiʻi's progress during a U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on energy storage today.
     She talked about projects that could be replicated around the state, including the Lawai Solar Energy Plus Storage Facility on Kauaʻi. She said it is the largest solar generation plus storage project in the world, generates 11 percent of Kauaʻi's power, and can serve as much as 40 percent of Kauaʻi's evening peak power demand.
     Hirono said, "Hawaiʻi is on the leading edge of incorporating renewable power and energy storage. Of course, Hawaiʻi is not connected to any other state's grid, we're kind of on our own."
     The Senator noted that "Hawaiian Electric... recently received approval for six new solar and storage projects to provide 247 megawatts of solar energy with almost 800 megawatt hours of storage – enough to power 105,000 homes per year while eliminating the use of more than 48 million gallons of imported fossil fuel. Hawaiʻi was the most imported fossil fuel dependent state in the country, and we had probably the highest electricity rates in the country, possibly with the exception of Alaska.

Sheep graze at the largest solar with storage facility in the world. It's on Kauaʻi and more are planned for the rest of Hawaiʻi. Photo from Kauaʻi Island Utility Cooperative

     "The company is preparing a second round of bids for even more solar and storage to replace fossil fuel plants. There will be even more innovation in the future to meet Hawaiʻi's goal of 100 percent renewable power by 2045."
     Hirono is a co-sponsor of S. 1593, the Promoting Grid Storage Act of 2019, to research, develop, and deploy energy storage systems, including assistance to local organizations identify and design energy storage systems. She is also a co-sponsor of S. 1142, the Energy Storage Tax Incentive and Deployment Act of 2019, which would provide a 30 percent credit for the purchase of energy storage systems. In May, Hirono joined her colleagues in introducing S.1288, the Clean Energy for America Act, which would reform the federal tax code as part of a plan to support a low-carbon economy by consolidating the current 44 energy incentives into three technology-neutral provisions that encourage clean electricity, clean transportation, and energy efficiency while repealing tax incentives for fossil fuel companies.
     The survey taken May 27 showed the lowest prices on the Gulf Coast, averaging $2.42 per gallon. The national average retail price for regular gasoline was $2.82 per gallon.
     Twenty years ago the average price of regular gasoline in the western states, including Hawaiʻi averaged $1.38 per gallon.

The price of gasoline is highest in Hawaiʻi and the other westernmost states. Map from the U.S. Energy Information Administration

THE FIGHT AGAINST RAPID ʻŌHIʻA DEATH was the focus of a symposium last week at ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawai‘i on the University of Hawaiʻi-Hilo campus. More than 90 top researchers and land managers "engaged in the fight against ROD shared knowledge, their latest research findings, and discussed next steps in battling the fungal disease that has killed millions of ʻōhiʻa trees, primarily on Hawai‘i Island, but also on a much more limited scale on Kaua‘i," reports Department of Land and Natural Resources.