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	Hawaii Energy Policy Forum >Meetings > December 17, 2008 HEPF General Membership Meeting December 17, 2008 10 am – 1 pm State Capitol Room 329 Summary Notes Members in Attendance: Allyn Lee, Carl Freedman, Elizabeth Cole, H. Ray Starling, Joelle Simonpietri, Joshua Wisch, Kyle Datta, Lance Tanaka, Larry Lau, Lynne Ebisui, Mark Duda, Mark Glick, Mike Hamnett, Sen. Mike Gabbard, Peter Rosegg, Riley Saito, Sharon Miyashiro, Ted Peck, Warren Bollmeier. Staff: Chelsea Phlegar, Kim Suman, Corrin Cunningham. Guests: Bill Parks, Dan Kalili, David Leonard, Denise Konan, Jim Mistysyn, Makena Coffman, Maria Tome, Paul Bernstein, UHERO, Priscilla Thompson, HNEI, Sandie Wong, Scott Turn, HNEI, Kimo Sutton, Steve Alber, Estrella Seese, DBEDT, Colleen Miller, DBEDT, Iman Nasseri, UH, Mehrdad G. Nejhad, UH, ME, Jody Allione, Rick Riggs, Sen. Gabbard's Office. Greenhouse Gas Presentation by Makena Coffman, Denise Konan, Paul Bernstein and Sam Pintz Comments How do we monetize emission reduction in Hawaii so that the state or private firms can profit? One way could be to join a regional cooperative. Upstream regulation is very attractive to DOH A cap for refineries passed onto HECO will reduce the price of conventional fuel and make renewable energy more appealing. Does taxing residual fuel oil send the right price signal to consumers? To what extent can refineries upgrade to minimize the production of residuals? Noticeable changes in transportation emissions between 1990 and 2005 Reduction in air transportation emissions could be the result of recent upgrades to more efficient airplanes. Increase in ground transportation emissions – faster than economic or population growth – could be due to the non-emergence of Oahu’s second city and/or types of vehicles used. Further study may consider hours in traffic, the effect of multigenerational households, change in rent prices on Hawaii Island. Follow Up Discussion on the October 2008 Energy Agreement We had a lot of positive feedback from this session, and it was very reassuring to have a little more clarification about the agreement. A follow-up meeting was supposed to be scheduled for the PV representatives by the DCA and Mark Duda, but this hasn’t happened yet. The signatories agreed to work towards a resolution for PV group. The PV industry is exceedingly concerned about PV host; have talked to industry people and it seems the utility has talked to customers and told them to wait a few months using the justification that the PV industry isn’t serving that need now. After the briefing, equally concerned, and subsequently more concerned. For existing PV, what will be the future stream of payment look like? Net metering cap? The briefing was limited to clarifications so we couldn’t get into opinions and concerns It seems as if they are picking winners of certain technologies rather than other types of renewable energy types; felt a little more reassured after the briefing, but the devil is in the details. For example, will feed in tariffs be tied to the type of technology or type of energy (baseload vs. peak)? There are still very little other state initiatives informing HCEI PUC short-term dockets might be a subset of things (legislation, administration, etc) that doesn’t have a natural home. HEPF can help to have a dialogue on these items or structured dialogue on legislation from the sponsors of the legislative packages. For those involved in HCEI, the sooner they can get their proposed legislation to HEPF for consideration, the better. We need time to have our vetting process. There is serious concern about PURPA and the plan to exempt Hawaii from it. This needs to be vetted very carefully and internally by the Forum. There is an issue of speed; a lot of decisions are being made very quickly. Other decision-making bodies, like land use decision makers, might not realize the energy concerns – BLNR is looking for land for biofuels. The Forum could also consider briefing and discussing clean energy scenario planning – how is the new IRP different? The Bioenergy Masterplan assignment is very broad, and the board has not issued leases for anyone yet. We want to find constructive ways to incorporate all of the different needs. The Masterplan timetable is to have a draft in the middle of 2009 to combine the different pieces. The first step is to develop a lead for each of the tasks with experts to discuss the information available, the issues and players, etc. A final report will be completed by the end of 2009. Action: If there are any other comments, please send to the Steering Committee. Legislative Briefing/Proposals for 2009 Session We will have our general membership meeting first and the briefing will start at 1 pm In the past, the briefing has been intense and long There are a lot of new members in the House Committee, so we need a primer on energy Include definitions and global perspective of issues HCEI will be a completely separate briefing, and HECO does a separate briefing for legislators, so we don’t need to cover these topics in our briefing. Will vet to all members before taking a position and writing testimony on legislation; will be getting separate emails from WG chairs for this. Briefing format could be a background/framework Quick mapping/101 session to familiarize legislators with the number of different and concurrent initiatives happening To start/continue discussion of the role of a utility outside of its traditional role. We could help them to understand where they fit in this universe of moving parts, the impact of projects and initiatives, and who is involved, etc. This type of presentation would be useful for other groups as well and is an appropriate task for a neutral forum. Do we have to explain feed in tariffs and net metering? No, we want a more global perspective, more like a framework. Meeting was adjourned at 1pm. back to top