Parties mum on PUC’s NextEra ruling
STAR-ADVERTISER
Gov. David Ige:
He says he is willing to explore offshore wind for state’s energy goals
All the parties involved in the potential $4.3 billion purchase of Hawaii’s largest electric utility gathered at the Hilton Hawaiian Village on Tuesday and were slinging the “no comment” phrase left and right.
The state Public Utilities Commission is set to to make a decision any day about Florida-based NextEra Energy Inc.’s purchase of Hawaiian Electric Industries, the parent company of Hawaiian Electric Co., Maui Electric Co. and Hawaii Electric Light Co.
Gov. David Ige; Eric Gleason, CEO of NextEra Energy Hawaii; Alan Oshima, president of HECO; and PUC Chairman Randy Iwase were some of the attendees at Verge Hawaii Asia Pacific Clean Energy Summit. The three-day renewable energy conference is put on through a partnership with Oakland, Calif.-based GreenBiz Group and the Hawaii State Energy Office.
Gleason said the silence was out of respect.
“It’s respect,” Gleason said. “It’s respect because it’s the commission’s decision now. It’s over to them. It’s their process. They have to decide what they are going to do and the rest of us just have to wait.”
When asked whether NextEra is still committed to the purchase of HEI after the sale’s contract met its first deadline on June 3, Gleason said, “We haven’t terminated yet, but other than that, no comment.”
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Iwase would not comment on the PUC’s ruling for the sale. Tom Gorak, chief counsel of the PUC, said “no comment” when asked about the PUC decision.
Oshima said the electric utility is hopeful of becoming partners with NextEra.
“We’re ready, if approval comes and it moves to a closing, we’re ready for Day One,” Oshima said. “We’re fully prepared. We’ve done a lot of work. There will be no interruption. … Employees will see their paychecks.”
Oshima would not comment on any preparation the company has made if the PUC denies the sale.
“There will be ample time once a decision is made to comment on other things,” Oshima said. “The company is working and will continue to work notwithstanding the outcome.”
Ige’s office said Tuesday he is still opposed to the sale.
During Ige’s presentation as keynote speaker at Verge, he said he is against the use of liquefied natural gas for electrical generation in Hawaii — reiterating disapproval he shared in August— but is interested in exploring the use of offshore wind to get the state to its 100 percent renewable energy goal.
“We have an energy vision for Hawaii that remains very clear,” Ige said. “We are committed to 100 percent renewable energy — no more fossil fuels, including LNG especially, and no more big fossil fuel plants; a transformation into a customer-centered utility focused on smart meters; smart grid; distributed local solutions; and as much consumer choice as possible.”
Ige said the energy sector will be important for job creation for years to come and that energy could be the third-largest sector in Hawaii as the state spends roughly $5 billion every year on imported fossil fuel.
The governor said he wants partnerships to “create jobs and opportunity for our community.”
Ige, who wants the state to be a hub for renewable energy technology testing, said his office has been focused on finding different companies nationally and internationally that want to get involved in renewable energy.
“Hawaii, being in the middle of the Pacific, it is the perfect connection across the ocean,” Ige said. “We are the perfect spot to be the experiment and the center for renewable clean energy around the world. Working with our partners, and I consider all of you partners, we fully expect to be 100 percent renewable by 2045 in electricity generation.”
Also at the conference, Ige and Assistant Secretary of the Navy Dennis McGinn signed a memorandum to coordinate goals and build partnerships whenever possible on energy-related issues.
Ige said the agreement formalizes a partnership between the state, Navy and Department of Defense that had been in the works for years.
“We have been working for years in partnership on various projects,” Ige said. “The Navy and the Department of Defense have been terrific partners because they understand the importance of energy security and resiliency.”
The memorandum between the state and the Navy follows a meeting between Ige and McGinn in November. Ige’s office said the state and the Navy have similar goals relating to the reduction of greenhouse gases, the reduction of fossil fuel usage, energy efficiency, water consumption, use of renewable energy and use of alternative-fueled vehicles.
Ige said the memorandum makes potential partners across the Pacific aware that Hawaii’s work on energy-related projects is reliable and consistent.
“I have visited Korea and Japan and China and they are talking about what we’re doing here,” he said. “The partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Department of Energy and what the state is doing really does amplify all of the efforts.”
22 responses to “Parties mum on PUC’s NextEra ruling”
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Business as usual in Hawaii. We pay, they play.
The sale is dead. Ige is wrong on natural gas. I smell a coming disaster for energy out here. Hard to trust incompetent people who are also often corrupt.
Why do you think Ige is wrong on natural gas? Natural gas is not good for the environment, even if the environment is other than Hawaii.
Offshore wind mill farms will destroy the ecosystem of killing many seabirds in the turbines and disrupting normal travel patterns of large marine life like he Humpback whales. LNG is better as a transition to SAFE nuclear power generation. Photovoltaic saturation on private homes and buildings on Oahu is necessary AND large scale energy storage maintained by HECO such as the latest version of flywheel and lithium batteries are essential. The ONLY reason why HECO and NextERA are not pushing what is BEST for Oahu and that is full saturation of home PV power generation and then they provide mass storage is because they cannot make massive profits when the public is generating large amounts of electricity off the wasted area of their rooftops. This is a far superior solution that off shore windmills or large PV “farms” that waste limited and valuable AG land on Oahu. PV alone will not allow complete independence from fossil fuels however with full PV home/office saturation on Oahu combined with large scale storage, and true smart grid system, nuclear power will only need to play a lessor role in providing complete independence from fossil fuel, LNG or windmills on Oahu. The fourth generation design of nuclear reactors are high-temperature, gas-cooled pebble-bed nuclear plant that cannot go Chernobyl or Fukushima, and seems China is leading on this type of technology because unfortunately Obama does not seem Obama is pushing US to lead the way for next generation SAFE nuclear reactor to generate electricity. That is why for Oahu LNG is needed and NOT windmills because LNG is the stop gap for a future of full PV home/office saturation, utility sized electrical storage capability and the latest and safest version of nuclear power generators.
large scale battery storage realistically does not exist. you think 500 to 600 megawatts of battery storage is feasible here on this island? no ways, not with lithium battery technology. it’s unsafe, bad for the environment which we’re ironically trying to protect, is a logistical nightmare and most importantly financially prohibitive. the same reasons make it an unwise decision to complement a homeowner’s pv system and it just gets exponentially worse as you try to go grid scale. as for nuclear power, as long as the current law exists there will never be nuclear generated power for the island. all wishful thinking. cholo agrees that all the negatives that goes with wind mill farms greatly outweighs the benefits. it’s almost a no-brainer. the simple fact that the normal person doesn’t realize is that wind mills do not generate on a consistent basis anywhere near what they’re rated for. for example, if a wind mill farm has a maximum capacity of 100 megawatts and they’re putting out 20 that is considered a GOOD day. you’d need hundreds of these behemoths all over the island and its waters to have any considerable benefit. who wants to look at wind mill turbines in every direction? the payoff simply isn’t there. the technology to go 100% renewable is not yet here, at least in a logistic and financial sense. and that’s why LNG can be a useful transitional fuel until something bigger, better comes about. cholo understands ige doesn’t want to waste any money on LNG or anything else that doesn’t directly contribute to renewable energy. he doesn’t realize though that he’ll waste even more money on expensive renewable energy now rather than wait for technology to catch up and drive prices much cheaper in the coming years where it’ll be the time to invest more into renewable energy.
There isn’t a consensus on the environment effects on the proposed wind farms. But an EIS should be required for each installation.
And of course much of the time HECO may not need to buy Power from the wind farm if it can supply power during the off-peak hours.
Perhaps the law should be changed to require HECO to buy whatever power the wind farm can produce? It isn’t like rooftop PV.
LNG is not only less expensive, it’s cleaner burning than the low sulphur fuel oil, coal or diesel fuel power plants currently burn. It’s also produced right here in the USA, most of the fuel oil Heco buys comes from south east asia.
As long as some sort of fuel must be burned, shouldn’t we be burning the less expensive,less polluting american produced alternative? Common sense you would think.
heco *IS* required to purchase wind power ahead of producing its own generated power. same like meco. remember what happened just recently when meco got caught curtailing wind power while generating its own in wind’s place? the puc caught wind of that scheme (hehe cholo made a funny), fined meco millions and ordered refunds made back to meco’s customers!
Natural gas is not a long term solution.
correct, but its a better solution than oil until we get to 100% renewables which by law isnt until 2045
oh just spill the beans already! you guys already know. end the charade.
The more they prolong this issue the more I think they are going to pull a fast one again on the people of Hawaii. This deal smells bad. jmo
They thought by delaying the approval Next Era would pull out and they would not have to make a decesion. Now they are stuck since, except for the “Bogeyman” argument, there is no logical reason to deny the merger.
Mum usually means that the community is going to get screwed.
Very often that’s true, this time will be no different. That’s what the corrupt democratic party of Hawaii does, they make deals with Developers, Unions and Monopoly businesses that benefit the party first, everyone else’s interests are secondary.
Also at the conference, Ige and Assistant Secretary of the Navy Dennis McGinn signed a memorandum to coordinate goals and build partnerships whenever possible on energy-related issues.
Except when it comes to LNG, NextEra or anything else the democrats don’t want.
Lol. Lucky you live Hawaii…
The article is actually about the conference and state-military cooperation in this area. It’s a good idea. If the state doesn’t tap NextEra for ideas, it can try the feds.
This sale was approved before Connie even announced it to the public.Ige and Iwase have been putting on some Kabuki theater for you all. The fix has been in from the beginning.
Do you really think Nextera would agree to pay 100 million to Heco if the PUC rejects their purchase if they didn’t already know the outcome? Keep in mind that Nextera operates in Florida where they have the same type of PUC regulated monopoly system as we do here in Hawaii.They know how to get the necessary approvals, last year they gave Florida lawmakers 9 million in campaign donations. They’ll do the same here, they probably already have. Heco gives 2 million a year to the democratic party of Hawaii thru a super pac, Nextera will give more. That’s how I know the deal will be approved. Follow the money, it never lies.
I would hope that no financial obligations are made by the state to any of these players.
HECO is hopeful of selling anbd collecting all their golden parachutes.
HECO is hopeful of selling and collecting all their golden parachutes.