Hawaii
Energy Policy Forum > Place
Alternative energy fuels businesses
Honolulu Advertiser
February 10, 2003
By Jan TenBruggencate
There's a lot of talk about developing alternative energy
solutions in the Islands, but a few small programs are actually
working to reduce the state's dependence on imported oil for
power.
A shopping center in Hanalei, Kaua'i, has a 9,500-watt solar
photovoltaic system on its roof, feeding its own electricity
needs as well as hooking into the islandwide utility grid.
The project, installed nearly a year ago at the Hanalei Center,
is one of the major net metering projects in the state, and
one of a series of projects throughout the Islands that are
pushing the envelope on alternative energy.
The Hanalei system has 72 Siemens 130-watt photovoltaic panels
feeding three inverters.
Except for one failed inverter, which the manufacturer quickly
replaced, it has functioned without serious problems, said
Charlie Cowden, whose Hanalei Solar designed the system.
Instead of charging batteries, the Hanalei Center facility
hooks directly into the power grid. If the shopping center
is using more power than the system produces, the center takes
power from the grid. If there's more power than needed, the
center ships power to the grid.
The savings, after tax credits provided by both the state
and federal governments, mean the system should pay for itself
in four to five years, Cowden said.
On Maui, the Maui Recycling Service has arranged with Maui
Car Rentals to rent out a Volkswagen Beetle that will operate
exclusively on biodiesel fuel. The car is equipped with an
unmodified diesel engine, and will use fuel made from used
cooking oil, which is processed by Pacific Biodiesel. The
recycled fuel can be run in a diesel engine without changes.
Biodiesel is a growing application for used oils.
Kona Community Hospital on the Big Island is the first of
three members of the Hawai'i Health System Corp. to bring
online a new co-generation facility, which will reduce the
hospital's power costs by $30,000 a month the savings will
go to pay off the $1.8 million cost of the system, and is
expected to do so in six to 10 years, said assistant administrator
Glenn Sparks.
The key to the savings is that the Kealakekua hospital's
new 475-kilowatt diesel generator will not only produce power,
but the hot water from the generator's cooling system will
be used to preheat hospital hot water and as strange as it
seems will help run the hospital's chillers as well. That
reduces the need to use electricity or gas to run hot water
or chilling systems.
Co-generation systems of this sort still use fossil fuels,
but their increased efficiency reduces the overall demand
for energy.
Jan TenBruggencate is The Advertiser's Kaua'i bureau chief
and its science and environment writer. Reach him at (808)
245-3074 or jant@honoluluadvertiser.com.
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