HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

260

TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

requesting the public utilities commission to allow hawaii electric and light company to continue its negotiations with kahua ranch and na makani moa e ku, llc, on the kahua fast-response hydro project.

 

 

 


     WHEREAS, one of the foremost obstacles to the development and implementation of many renewable energy generating sources is the intermittent nature of these sources, such as a lack of sunshine or wind; and

 

     WHEREAS, an electrical public utility such as Hawaii Electric and Light Company (HELCO) must ensure that its customers receive reliable and continuous service; and

 

     WHEREAS, Kahua Ranch (Kahua) and Na Makani Moa e Ku, LLC (Na Makani), have developed the Kahua Fast-Response Hydro Project that utilizes wind energy as a renewable energy source but also as a part of a pumped hydro electric system that uses renewable energy during non-peak hours to pump water up to a storage reservoir, which services as a fast-response source of "stored" energy that is available on short notice when the wind energy is unavailable to ameliorate any sudden drop of energy from the renewable wind energy source; and

 

WHEREAS, Kahua and Na Makani have been negotiating with HELCO since 2006 on the problems of grid integration and the implementation of the Kahua Fast-Response Hydro Project as a pilot project that eventually may be used in other locations in the State to back up intermittent renewable energy sources; and

 

     WHEREAS, in January 2009, the Public Utilities Commission ordered HELCO to terminate its negotiations with Kahua and Na Makani on the Kahua Fast-Response Hydro Project pilot project, presumably due to its desire to institute competitive bidding for renewable energy and to decouple renewable energy from fossil fuels based on "avoided costs" as mandated by federal law and regulation; and

 

     WHEREAS, competitive bidding would not be applicable in the case of the Kahu Fast-Response Hydro Project pilot project because it is a pilot project located on a unique site that will demonstrate the feasibility of pump hydro as a new technology in grid integration and energy storage technology that will lead to open markets for competitive bidding by renewable energy projects in the future; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fifth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2009, the Senate concurring, that the Public Utilities Commission is requested to allow the Hawaii Electric and Light Company to continue negotiations with Kahua Ranch and Na Makani Moe e Ku, LLC, to implement the Kahua Fast-Response Hydro Project as a pilot project to prove the efficacy of using pumped hydro as a reliable method of energy storage; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to Chairperson of the Public Utilities Commission, Kahua Ranch, Na Makani Moa e Ku, LLC, and Hawaii Electric Light Company, respectively.

 

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

Renewable Energy; Public Utilities Commission