Energy

County’s New Demands Cause Pacific Biodiesel Headaches

Pacific Biodiesel will continue collecting cooking oil and grease and continue supplying Biodiesel to Maui Biodiesel refining operations to move to Big Island. Here’s the press release issued by Pacific Biodiesel America’s oldest biodiesel production plant has vacated the Central Maui  Landfill.  While continuing operations in the collection of used cooking oil and trap grease  waste, Pacific Biodiesel has closed its prototype facility.  Built in 1996, Pacific Biodiesel’s  Maui plant has been widely recognized as … Read more

Utilities Mount PR War on Rooftop PV

An article in Scientific American talks about the impact of cheap rooftop PV is having on utilities. Some utilities like Arizona Public Service (APS) are fighting against solar as HECO/MECO are doing: In response APS and other utility companies across the country have launched a propaganda war against an energy source that still accounts for less than one quarter of 1 percent of U.S. electricity. In Arizona that fight became very public in 2013, as … Read more

Former U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu lashes out at Hawaiian Electric

A Forbes article by Steven Chu: Utility companies have been looking for new regulations and higher connection charges to save them from a “death spiral” spurred by a surge in rooftop solar installations. Instead, says former Energy Secretary Steven Chu, they should get into the rooftop solar business. Utilities are in danger of being FedExed, Chu said, “like the Post Office got FedExed,” as rooftop solar modules drop in price. “The cost of modules has plummeted. … Read more

Sierra Club Supporting Solar

Solar Makes a Splash!  In partnership with Pacific Resource Partnership, we recently announced the results of a state-wide poll that showed a stunning, nearly unanimous 96% support for solar energy. In addition, we also took the opportunity to literally roll out the petition that over 900 people signed in support of a modern, clean energy grid. If you’ve ever wondered what 900 people in a legislator’s office looks like, it looks something like this: The … Read more

Henry Curtis: HELCO Ignores Residential PV

By Henry Curtis 05/15/2013
A year ago the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission (PUC) opened a regulatory proceeding on Integrated Resource Planning (IRP). The HECO Companies (HECO, MECO, and HELCO) were given a year to develop short-term Action Plans and evaluate how utility actions would be impacted by different long-term possible future scenarios. The PUC created a 68-member Advisory Group, to be overseen by an Independent Entity (IE), to help the utilities create these Action Plans.

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