LIHU‘E — Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative announced Tuesday a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Green Energy LLC for a biomass-to-energy project to be located near Koloa. The project will reduce Kaua‘i’s dependence on fuels by 3.7 million gallons per year
LIHU‘E — Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative announced Tuesday a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Green Energy LLC for a biomass-to-energy project to be located near Koloa.
The project will reduce Kaua‘i’s dependence on fuels by 3.7 million gallons per year and provide biomass-fired generation to serve the energy needs of more than 8,500 households, a KIUC press release said.
The biomass project will represent 10 to 11 percent of the co-op’s total output and will bring the utility to 22 or 24 percent renewable, KIUC director of communications Anne Barnes said.
Green Energy formed in 2005 to develop renewable energy projects in the state of Hawai‘i and is a joint partnership between Eric Knutzen and Standardkessel Baumgarte Contracting GmbH (SBC) of Germany.
In February 2008, Kaua‘i County Planning Commission made an unprecedented decision to support Green Energy’s plans to build a 5.5-acre, 7-megawatt, fixed-output biomass facility in Knudsen Gap.
Biomass gasification technology converts agricultural materials called “biomass,” such as chipped wood from trees and agricultural waste, into energy via a boiler.
“It’s a closed-loop system, and some say first in the nation,” Knutzen said. “We can produce energy on island, with no importation from other places. When it comes to closed-loop, everything is on island. Nothing comes from outside.”
Equally important, he said, is its energy production will be firm, just like burning diesel or Naptha, and will be carbon neutral and cost effective over decades, “saving everyone money and creating local jobs.”
Green Energy plans to use eucalyptus and albizia trees for energy production. Some will come from the 64-acre parcel Green Energy purchased from Knudsen Trust in 2007 for the project’s site.
The company also has a 20-year tree purchase agreement with Kaua‘i-based tree grower Hawaiian Mahogany Inc., which will represent one quarter of their total biomass supply.
Recently, Green Energy entered into a 20-year lease agreement with the state for 1,000 acres on which the company will clear-cut albizia trees, which he said is considered to be a fast-growing nuisance species, and plant in their place non-evasive native species.
An additional 1,000 acres of trees will be harvested from “private lands leased from private sources,” he said.
The biomass facility will use a Standardkessel boiler that will be fed approximately 200 pounds of biomass per day.
To mitigate particulate waste, Green Energy plans to use an electrostatic precipitator, “the best in control technology,” Knutzen said. “Compared to the emissions of diesel trucks and Port Allen, we’d argue it’s cleaner in many ways. I’m sort of an environmentalist and want to make sure it’s as green as possible.”
To mitigate potential noise, most of the wood chipping will be done off site, he said, and a noise berm will be built around the facility.
With the environmental assessment complete, the project, now six years in the making, is expected to break ground this year.
“The financing and entitlement process takes time,” Knutzen said. “Thanks to support from the utility, council members, state legislators and Mayors Baptiste and Carvalho, we’re able to make this happen now.”
He said Green Energy started the entitlement process early on with an air permit for its particulate count, and has received use, special use and building permits.
However, because project plans changed from Chiptec to Standardkessel-designed equipment, “which is 16 percent more efficient,” he said, Green Energy was required to amend certain permits.
“Approximately 39 direct jobs (will be created) from production start,” he said. “How many will be involved in the construction phase, which will have a big positive impact on Kaua‘i, is not yet estimated. The total capital cost is estimated to be less than $70 million.
“Our goal is to hire locally in the construction and operating phases as best as we can, given whatever competencies we need as we procure,” he said. The project will go out to bid this year.
The estimated project completion date is December 2013.
Knutzen said Green Energy is targeting a grant for several millions of dollars from the Investment Tax Credit Cash Grant Program for renewable energy, which is federally sponsored through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
David Bissell, KIUC acting president and chief executive officer, said the co-op needs to maintain discretion in pricing and therefore would not reveal the price KIUC will pay Green Energy per kilowatt-hour (kwh) under the PPA.
“KIUC is aggressively pursuing diversification of its energy portfolio to include a growing percentage of hydropower, photovoltaic, bio-fuel, battery storage, biomass, and smart grid resources,” the KIUC press release said.
The State of Hawai‘i mandates that each electrical utility company provides at least 20 percent of its net electricity through renewable energy by 2020. KIUC has committed to becoming 50 percent renewable by 2023.
