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Company seeks to bring biomass back to Kaua'i
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| Idyllic location: With corn replacing sugar cane in the foreground, the old McBryde Sugar Company Koloa sugar mill, with its awesome mountain views, still looks like a nice place to work. Developers are eying the mostly-abandoned property as a location for a renewable-energy-generation project. |
By Andy Gross - The Garden Island
Leaders of a Mainland company are seeking to use some existing equipment at the old McBryde Sugar Company Koloa mill site (owned by officials with Grove Farm) to help develop a renewable-energy source to sell to leaders with the Kaua'i Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC).
According to KIUC management, the utility's monthly rates are the highest in the state in part because of their significant dependence on oil-based products to generate electricity.
Milan Kluko, president of Fountainhead Engineering Ltd., thinks he has a viable solution that will be mutually beneficial. He is in discussions with both officials with Grove Farm and KIUC.
"We know we can generate power cheaper (than KIUC) is doing now," he said.
Kluko's plans call for using biomass as an alternative energy source.
Biomass is plant matter such as trees, grasses, agricultural crops (including sugar cane) or other biological material. It can be used as a solid fuel, or converted into liquid or gaseous forms, for the production of electric power, heat, chemicals, or fuels, Kluko explained.
Using one boiler, Kluko said the facility could generate 7.5 megawatt hours. According to Kluko, another boiler would be added to double the output.
Kluko met with KIUC officials a couple of weeks ago. He said he hopes to have a proposal ready for KIUC possibly by next month.
KIUC President and Chief Executive Officer H.A. "Dutch" Achenbach said the cooperative leaders have to take a wait-and-see stance on such proposals.
"Since the price of oil has gone up, a lot of folks have come out of the woodwork," Achenbach said. "There are all sort of things to look at here. We have to make sure it works."
Kluko is also angling to handle the county's solid waste, which would then be incinerated.
Hypothetically, if and when all logistical and feasibility issues are settled both with Grove Farm and KIUC officials, the parties could then enter into a power-purchase agreement, wherein those with Kluko's entity would agree to provide a certain amount of firm power, and KIUC leaders would determine how much they would pay for such power.
Some leaders at Kluko's company work as consulting engineers and feasibility experts for Environmental Forest Solutions, a company whose officials already operate a biomass wood waste-to-energy plant in Eagar, Ariz., and sells power to officials with a New Mexico utility company.
Kluko has been in negotiations with Grove Farm officials about using the Koloa facility, specifically its turbine generators. Kluko said boilers would be brought in, as well as other equipment as needed.
Though studies are not yet complete, Kluko said the entire project could cost anywhere from $15 million to $20 million.
Cooperative officials currently charge consumers (members) 29 cents per kilowatt hour, the highest rate in the state. Kluko said that, tentatively, the estimate charge to KIUC leaders to buy power from officials at Environmental Forest Solutions would be 14 cents to 16 cents per kilowatt hour.
Kluko said the plan calls for 6,000 acres to be utilized for the growth of biomass. He said he did not know at this juncture what would be planted.
KIUC leaders said they have more than met a state mandate requiring operators of utilities in Hawai'i to create more electricity from renewable-energy sources, ac-cording to KIUC's Joe McCawley.
KIUC officials have reached a 13.2-per-cent "renewable-portfolio standard" as of 2004, he said. Under the state law to en-courage leaders of utilities to become less dependent on oil for electrical generation, operators of utilities are to reach a 15-per-cent mark by 2015, and a 20-percent mark by 2020.
Andy Gross, business editor, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 251) or agross@kauaipubco.com
According to KIUC management, the utility's monthly rates are the highest in the state in part because of their significant dependence on oil-based products to generate electricity.
Milan Kluko, president of Fountainhead Engineering Ltd., thinks he has a viable solution that will be mutually beneficial. He is in discussions with both officials with Grove Farm and KIUC.
"We know we can generate power cheaper (than KIUC) is doing now," he said.
Kluko's plans call for using biomass as an alternative energy source.
Biomass is plant matter such as trees, grasses, agricultural crops (including sugar cane) or other biological material. It can be used as a solid fuel, or converted into liquid or gaseous forms, for the production of electric power, heat, chemicals, or fuels, Kluko explained.
Using one boiler, Kluko said the facility could generate 7.5 megawatt hours. According to Kluko, another boiler would be added to double the output.
Kluko met with KIUC officials a couple of weeks ago. He said he hopes to have a proposal ready for KIUC possibly by next month.
KIUC President and Chief Executive Officer H.A. "Dutch" Achenbach said the cooperative leaders have to take a wait-and-see stance on such proposals.
"Since the price of oil has gone up, a lot of folks have come out of the woodwork," Achenbach said. "There are all sort of things to look at here. We have to make sure it works."
Kluko is also angling to handle the county's solid waste, which would then be incinerated.
Hypothetically, if and when all logistical and feasibility issues are settled both with Grove Farm and KIUC officials, the parties could then enter into a power-purchase agreement, wherein those with Kluko's entity would agree to provide a certain amount of firm power, and KIUC leaders would determine how much they would pay for such power.
Some leaders at Kluko's company work as consulting engineers and feasibility experts for Environmental Forest Solutions, a company whose officials already operate a biomass wood waste-to-energy plant in Eagar, Ariz., and sells power to officials with a New Mexico utility company.
Kluko has been in negotiations with Grove Farm officials about using the Koloa facility, specifically its turbine generators. Kluko said boilers would be brought in, as well as other equipment as needed.
Though studies are not yet complete, Kluko said the entire project could cost anywhere from $15 million to $20 million.
Cooperative officials currently charge consumers (members) 29 cents per kilowatt hour, the highest rate in the state. Kluko said that, tentatively, the estimate charge to KIUC leaders to buy power from officials at Environmental Forest Solutions would be 14 cents to 16 cents per kilowatt hour.
Kluko said the plan calls for 6,000 acres to be utilized for the growth of biomass. He said he did not know at this juncture what would be planted.
KIUC leaders said they have more than met a state mandate requiring operators of utilities in Hawai'i to create more electricity from renewable-energy sources, ac-cording to KIUC's Joe McCawley.
KIUC officials have reached a 13.2-per-cent "renewable-portfolio standard" as of 2004, he said. Under the state law to en-courage leaders of utilities to become less dependent on oil for electrical generation, operators of utilities are to reach a 15-per-cent mark by 2015, and a 20-percent mark by 2020.
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earthlore wrote on Feb 23, 2009 3:08 PM:
A woman (an employee) rushed out onto the porch area of the shop, waved her forefinger at us, and shouted, "Uh-uh! You can't park here! Paying customers only!". I called back that we did, indeed, intend to come into her store to shop, she crossed her arms and just looked at us like we were gutter slime.
I wanted to leave immediately, but my girlfriend decided to go in to talk to the owner (who was there). They were completely unapologetic, ("Well, you can shop if you want"), and stared hard at her the entire time she was in the store (which wasn't long, I can assure you).
I don't know what possessed them to treat us this way. We are not hippies or thugs - just tourists carrying around a pocket full of cash looking for someplace to spend it. Maybe it was because we are too young to fit their demographic (I am in my early 30's, and my girlfriend is in her 20's), or possibly because she was wearing an "Obama '08" t-shirt (political differences?), but the way we were treated by the employees and ownership of this business was nothing short of deplorable.
I own a retail business in Michigan myself, and never in a thousand years would I behave this way toward any customer - even if I didn't think they were planning on buying anything. Perhaps this is a luxury you get from doing business on a tourist island - that you can mistreat anybody you feel like, knowing that they will be a thousand miles away in a few days.
This singular experience served to ruin the last couple hours of our vacation, and cast a dark note on the entire trip. I do not, as a practice, write negatively of any business... but we were extremely upset by this. "