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A late night talk show guest from Stanford University urged national focused work for all states, such as NY state power, with nearby "off shore located wind driven energy" mechanisms, giving 80% of that state's power. Hawaii has a lot of solar, and solar power usually has a 25 year life on the expenditures, keeping later kwh costs low, well past the paid off set up costs. Is there a solid choice between that and aesthetics of same, versus ever increasing fossil fuel based energy? Solar powered on all roof tops statewide? Wind power and susceptible damages from storms or later various weather / geological events? Fuel and shipping costs will always increase... when do we act ? Western and midwest states are sparsely populated and solar production from there, will need means to get it to denser populated states efficiently. Federal subsidies paid to fossil fuel producers will need at some point, diversion to solar/wind producers. Tax revenues need review to determine the " best" allocation based upon citizen needs that pay those taxes. 20 years from now, will be here soon. Will we?
46.3 million barrels of petroleum were imported for Hawaii's total energy use over the past year.
That's 36 barrels of petroleum for every man, woman and child living in Hawaii. $5.09 billion left the state last year to pay for imported petroleum;$4,000 for every person living in Hawaii.
That's like buying 10 million roundtrip tickets to Las Vegas. 11.3 million barrels of petroleum were burned by the Hawaii utilities last year to make electricity.
11.3 million barrels of petroleum x $79/barrel=$893 million. That would pay a year's tuition for the 13,952 undergraduate students at the University of Hawaii at Manoa 8 times. The average residential meter in Hawaii uses 615 kilowatt hour per month
That's $175/month spent on electricity - enough for 20 Zip Paks, 24 boxes of a dozen malasadas or 14 pounds of fresh poke. Hawaii ranks #1 in electric energy costs Residential rates (schedule R) as of September 1, 2013
44.75 cents/kWh
Lanai
43.42 cents/kWh
Molokai
38.68 cents/kWh
Hawaii Island
35.40 cents/kWh
Maui
31.86 cents/kWh
Oahu
I have solar and recommend it for everyone - but it isn't cheap. If the state/federal government were really serious about solar, then the tax credits would be even higher. I think all the unsightly wind farms on the North Shore of Oahu or the one in Maui would have been money better spent towards increased solar credits.
Although, solar isn't a good option for everyone in Hawaii - think of the areas on the Big Island that have a lot of cloud cover/rain.
I think when the price of crude is closer to $200/barrel you'll see many more people embracing solar especially if wages don't keep up to pay for those electric bills.
In June Helco reported that over 40% of the electricity sold on the Big Island is currently being produced from renewable resources... wind, solar, hydro, geothermal, etc. But even with that big contribution, the state total is only 12%.
Offshore wind is a largely untapped resource for mainland states, yes, but Hawai'i doesn't have the long, shallow, gradually sloping underwater land profile needed. The Pakini Nui windfarm at Southpoint in Hawai'i County is more typical of what works in Hawai'i, an installation in remote agricultural land, where concerns about the impact on the scenery are muted. The biggest thing wind power has going for it is that the cost of production is on a par with energy produced with fossil fuel.
Solar energy is an obvious choice here, despite its higher cost, given the abundance of the resource. But solar concentration technology, using focused beams of sunlight to create steam to drive turbines is under developed. As far as I'm aware there is only one such system in use in the state so far, again, here on the Big Island.
Biofuel from ag waste and algae growth, methane power from garbage dumps, biomass gasification, hydrothermal power using deep ocean water, geothermal that taps the volcano, tide power, wave power, we've actually got more pilot programs for more emerging energy technologies than any other state. But other than on the Big Island we don't have a lot of momentum towards real implementation yet in the state. I think the Department of Defense is doing more than the state is.
Solar and wind are fine - when the sun shines and the wind blows. The problem is what to do otherwise, which is why solar and wind alone will not be able to replace our energy needs.
Those numbers for electric cost, at least on The Big Island, don't add up.
Looking at a recent bill, which lists prior months on it as well for comparison, I have:
Some of the high use months were due to extra guests, heavy cooking on electric stove and low use months due to being out of town. We do have solar hot water.
I'm starting to look into getting solar for the house. I got my first HECO bill. $57 for 7 days! I was paying a lil more than that a month back in San Francisco! I work from home so my computer is on most of the day and I still have not used my a/c. Once the entire family arrives on the New Year I'll be afraid to look at my HECO bill.
Unfortunately it's worse than that, because Schedule R doesn't include all the charges that show up on your bill, it just tells you they will be added. And that bill is not light reading. I tell people the cost of electricity is effectively about 43 cents a kWh on the Big Island, which is well north of 3X the mainland average cost. Here's the complete list of charges on a HELCO bill, per their web site:
Current Charges Your current charges are itemized based on the type of rate schedule applicable to your account. For residential electric service the following charges may be itemized on your bill:
Customer Charge covers some of the fixed costs of maintaining electric service to your home, whether you used any electricity or not. These costs include reading your meter and processing your bill. Note: Currently $10.50/mo, with a minimum monthly charge of $20.50 total.
Base Fuel Energy is the cost of fuel used in our power plants to produce electricity. It also includes the cost of energy purchased from independent power producers. This charge is based on the fuel prices and purchased energy prices used in Hawaii Electric Light Company’s last completed rate case. Note: 16.2487 cents/kWh
Non Fuel Energy covers some of the costs—excluding fuel costs—to provide electric service to you. These include costs to operate our power plants and maintain the electric system. Note:
First 300 kWh - per kWh: 11.2019 cents
Next 700 kWh - per kWh: 14.5537 cents
All over 1000 kWh - per kWh: 15.6529 cents
Energy Cost Adjustment reflects increases or decreases in the cost of buying energy from independent power producers and in the price of fuel from the levels used to set the Base Fuel Energy Charge in Hawaii Electric Light Company's last completed rate case. Note: Market rates, currently about 25% of total bill
And the rest are smaller charges, but they add up.
IRP Cost Recovery allows Hawaii Electric Light Company to recover the costs of its long-term energy planning process, Integrated Resource Planning, and the costs of certain energy management programs.
PBF Surcharge (Public Benefits Fund Surcharge) collects funds that are used to pay for energy efficiency programs, including customer incentives such as rebates, to reduce electricity use in Hawaii. The programs are managed by a third party administrator, Hawaii Energy, reporting to the Public Utilities Commission.
Purchased Power Adjustment applies to residential rate schedules R, TOU-R, TOU EV, and EV-R. It recovers expenses and related taxes for non-energy purchased power costs from independent power producers, which were formerly recovered through the Non-Fuel Energy Charge.
RBA Rate Adjustment, the Revenue Balancing Account Rate Adjustment, is a charge or credit approved by the Public Utilities Commission under a new method of setting electric rates called decoupling, which supports Hawaii Electric Light Company’s clean energy efforts.
Renewable Infrastructure Pgm is a charge approved by the Public Utilities Commission to collect funds that are used to recover the cost of certain projects that facilitate the development and/or integration of renewable energy.
Interim Increase adjusts bills to reflect any interim rate adjustments approved by the Public Utilities Commission.
I am really good at some things but too many numbers make my eyes glaze over. My SO would love to get in on this discussion. I do enjoy learning from those who know and I loved reading the wind energy debate with Mr/Ms De-construct.Being in facilities mgmt, I've never seen anywhere with the solar power of Hawaii. I wonder if power companies have anything to do with that?
Btw, geothermal isn't allowed in Memphis because it could affect the aquafer - is that the word? Their water is the best in the country.
Being in facilities mgmt, I've never seen anywhere with the solar power of Hawaii. I wonder if power companies have anything to do with that?
Power companies in many areas have dragged their feet, yes, but Hawai'i has outstanding resources for using solar power, so we've got very high penetration of the technology, and are in the top five for total installations, despite our small size.
Quote:
Btw, geothermal isn't allowed in Memphis because it could affect the aquafer - is that the word?
They're not in a great area for geothermal, anyway. But the Big Island is in the ideal location, sitting on an active volcano.
Experts have estimated that the potential for Big Island geothermal generation is 750 MW, which is about equal to 1/3 of the current total power used in the entire state. Currently I think we're only pulling about 20 MW, but expansion is under way.
...Being in facilities mgmt, I've never seen anywhere with the solar power of Hawaii. I wonder if power companies have anything to do with that? ..
Yes. It is mainly due to the issues caused by solar's ability to deal with things like clouds passing over an area and that other thing that we call "night time". When a large area goes into cloud cover, the electric company must be able to make up for that power loss, instantly, which means that the giant diesel generators need to be kept running all the time, even when the sun is shining. Since the generators have to be kept running, solar doesn't do near as much as the proponents want you to believe.
On a smaller scale, many people simply do not want the headaches of dealing with battery banks and the other issues that come with being off-grid.
I'm starting to look into getting solar for the house. I got my first HECO bill. $57 for 7 days! I was paying a lil more than that a month back in San Francisco! I work from home so my computer is on most of the day and I still have not used my a/c. Once the entire family arrives on the New Year I'll be afraid to look at my HECO bill.
You'd better look at this before you think about solar. This latest decision by HECO is a disaster for solar installation companies and consumers alike.
We got ours about a year ago and have been enjoying our $17/month electric bill for quite a while now.
This new crap from HECO is so upsetting---not for us, we're in, but for so many who were planning on PV installations.
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46.3 million barrels of petroleum were imported for Hawaii's total energy use over the past year.
