The Department of Defense Missile Defense Agency has proposed a massive radar complex, the Homeland Defense Radar-Hawai‘i. If funded, it’s likely to be located at the Pacific Missile Range Facility. Kaua‘i’s infrastructure and resource capacity would be overwhelmed by this project. Electricity is one example.
The Missile Defense Agency has a frequently asked questions page. Here is one highlight.
Q: What is the impact on the power grid? Does the power company have the ability to support?
A: MDA met with Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative. KIUC has ample capacity and planned structural upgrades that will be capable of providing needed power to PMRF for the HDR-H.
There are concerning reasons to believe that this is not true, unless by “ample capacity” they mean to burn quantities of oil at Port Allen.
The power demand of this radar, which would operate day and night all the time, is substantial. A backup diesel generator, with 150,000-gallon fuel storage, is capable of 18 megawatts of generation. Fossil-fuel generators over 5 MW trigger Hawai‘i Revised Statutes 343 compliance. And what are the “planned structural upgrades”? Are they talking about the proposed pumped-storage facility? Isn’t that supposed to benefit the ratepayers by getting us to 80% renewable production?
If in fact MDA received assurances of electricity delivery from KIUC in this alleged meeting, KIUC owes its ratepayers an explanation of how the electricity for the radar would be generated.
We have endured some of the highest electricity rates to support the utility’s goal of 100% renewable production, now over 50%, to lower Kaua‘i’s carbon footprint for future generations and for the promise of future lower electricity costs.
Ratepayers deserve input into any decision to supply electricity to this project that, by the way, has been denied funding in both the Trump and then Biden administrations. In the fast-paced nuclear-arms race, the HDR-H has already been declared obsolete. Only our Washington delegation continues to push it.
The Missile Defense Agency and KIUC should disclose the electricity requirement for the radar for independent impact analysis. KIUC needs to hold by its promise to pursue carbon-free generation, and not reverse course and exacerbate the climate crisis.
•••
Kip Goodwin is a resident of Kapa‘a.
