Richard Ha writes:
Some general impressions I got from the recent Asia Pacific
Clean Energy Summit and Expo:
- So far, I get the impression that the new HECO transition team is made up of very competent people, and the utility is in good hands. I work with Dave Waller on the biofuel foundation and he is good at what he does and is a very considerate and professional person. I have only heard Scott Seu speak, but I was very impressed at his breadth of knowledge and how he handles himself. I sat next to Colton Ching at lunch and liked him immediately. He is a person with lots of work experience. Most impressive to me was his belief that this is about people, not only things. I asked him a lot of questions and I was not surprised when he told me Robbie Alm was his mentor. Of course. He and Scott are two-thirds of the clean energy team. Robert Young is another very impressive professional on HECO’s team. I would love to meet the rest of the team, and I’m sure they’re all very good at what they do. HECO is in good hands.
- [Recently I wrote about having lost confidence in HECO and
the path it has taken. The new HECO people are good at what they do and they
will do a good job for the people of O‘ahu. It is the Board of Directors that has
a fiduciary duty to stock holders, which sometimes conflicts with the interests
of rate payers. So it is the Board of Directors we are at issue with — not the
other folks. It isn’t personal. I think we could work it out if we sat down and talked story.]
- Ted
Peck and his gang put on an excellent conference. I was very impressed.
- The
Department of Energy, Department of Agriculture, the Navy and the
Department of Defense have many, many projects going on. I was surprised
at how many. The military approaches things in a very systematic and
professional manner. They know what they are doing.
- Senator
Fred Hemmings spoke about mini-nuclear stations for the future, and it
sounded very reasonable. He said there have been 18 nuclear reactors on
O‘ahu, on ships and submarines, for many years. It was safe and all that
was needed was to disburse the units where you wanted. Maybe bury it in
the ground for safety. It sounded reasonable, especially for O‘ahu, where
an alternative base power to oil is not yet available.
- An
algae spokesperson spoke about the progress his company is making. He said
that the third stage target for algae biodiesel would be priced at $3 per
gallon. And the second stage algae biodiesel would be priced at $2 per
gallon. I was impressed. Later, at the Expo, chatted with Kelly King of
Pacific Biodiesel, who told me that she would pay $500 for the first
gallon of algae biofuel that was actually produced. Hmmm.
- Now
that I have actually seen a hydrogen car, I would like to see a fleet of
hydrogen fueling stations around the Big Island. It could be fueled by
hydrogen made using electricity from cheap “off peak” geothermal energy.
It would be much cheaper than the hydrogen made from petroleum on O‘ahu.
- It
reminded me that HELCO, led by Jay Ignacio, is also a top-flight company
made up of first class, competent people. I was very impressed when we
toured the command center and Lisa Danglemaier related how they want to
get solar data; but instead of buying a very expensive system, they put
one together from off-the-shelf materials. I am very impressed by this
kind of ingenuity.
- The
Solar Guy grabbed me for a quick interview for the ‘Olelo Channel. It must
have been interesting, because he would like for us to do a radio
interview next.
- But
there are no magic bullets. I am more convinced than ever that we need to
deliberately and systematically incorporate geothermal for the Big Island
grid.
There is an alternative to the undersea cable fantasy,which by the way do go down,then whats the back up plan?let alone no funding for this $5bn--$7bn project.
The alternative is distributed energy/water www.danvest.com expect we can reduce the Hawaiian energy cost by up to 50% in 3-5 years time frame depending on Govt appetite.
Posted by: Windesal | December 24, 2010 at 03:03 PM