Letters to the Editor
VIEWPOINT: Innovative thinking a must for energy independence
By THEODORE E. LIU
The recent news of UPC Wind’s complaint against Maui Electric Co. (The Maui News, Feb. 7) for its refusal to purchase additional wind power again shows the challenges in reaching where Hawaii needs to be in energy security and self-sufficiency.
Ever since the first oil embargo in 1973, we all have known that Hawaii’s near-total dependence on imported oil puts our people’s lives and livelihoods at serious risk. Other states recognized the exact same thing and moved decisively to diversify and secure their energy future.
During the 1979 oil crisis, Hawaii was 91 percent dependent on oil for our electricity generation. In 2006, Hawaii’s electricity was still 78 percent oil-generated. The state with the next-highest dependency on oil for electricity was Florida at 17 percent.
Full knowledge of a risk such as our overdependence on oil, followed by a lack of significant action in the face of repeated opportunity, is sheer lunacy. How did we as a state get to be so dependent on imported oil?
There are quite a few reasons, but a major one is the regulatory and utility mind-set that retreats to reliability concerns as a defense against new solutions. Obviously, we all value the reliability of the lights coming on and staying on when needed. And, unlike other states, Hawaii is not interconnected to a regional grid we can look to when something doesn’t work as planned.
However, when reliability is the only priority, it prohibits pursuit of new approaches based on Hawaii’s abundant renewable energy resources. New approaches based on new technologies — sun, wind, waves, geothermal or biofuels — may not be as reliable as how we have always generated power. But we can manage the potential risk of reliability through storage or better control systems. Falling back on reliability considerations alone results in no change when change is critical.
With oil coming from regions of the world that are increasingly unstable, with crude prices reaching new highs and with fossil fuel emissions exacerbating climate change, the risks to Hawaii’s people have increased significantly.
The good news is that innovation, technological advancements and engineering solutions have been developed for increasing the use of alternative and clean energy. Investment capital is exploring opportunities in clean-tech projects.
In addition, we also have the full backing of the U.S. federal government with the recently announced Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative, a partnership between the U.S. Department of Energy and the state of Hawaii.
Now, more than any time before, we can achieve a secure and self-sufficient energy future.
MECO is electing to refuse an additional 21 megawatts of proven wind energy, all financed by private investment. Why? It’s due to concerns over reliability. Again, how we’ve always done things in the past could overwhelm a new but better way of providing energy.
I have no opinion on and do not favor UPC Wind over any of its competitors. I believe that when faced with the opportunity, MECO should utilize as much renewable energy instead of imported oil as possible. It should take more wind projects. Instead of focusing on reliability to the exclusion of other important issues, the most important of which is security, MECO should vigorously pursue engineering and technical solutions to make renewable energy sources more reliable.
The alternative is business as usual. The people of Hawaii cannot afford to continue to risk our energy security and independence.
• Theodore E. Liu is director of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.
Ever since the first oil embargo in 1973, we all have known that Hawaii’s near-total dependence on imported oil puts our people’s lives and livelihoods at serious risk. Other states recognized the exact same thing and moved decisively to diversify and secure their energy future.
During the 1979 oil crisis, Hawaii was 91 percent dependent on oil for our electricity generation. In 2006, Hawaii’s electricity was still 78 percent oil-generated. The state with the next-highest dependency on oil for electricity was Florida at 17 percent.
Full knowledge of a risk such as our overdependence on oil, followed by a lack of significant action in the face of repeated opportunity, is sheer lunacy. How did we as a state get to be so dependent on imported oil?
There are quite a few reasons, but a major one is the regulatory and utility mind-set that retreats to reliability concerns as a defense against new solutions. Obviously, we all value the reliability of the lights coming on and staying on when needed. And, unlike other states, Hawaii is not interconnected to a regional grid we can look to when something doesn’t work as planned.
However, when reliability is the only priority, it prohibits pursuit of new approaches based on Hawaii’s abundant renewable energy resources. New approaches based on new technologies — sun, wind, waves, geothermal or biofuels — may not be as reliable as how we have always generated power. But we can manage the potential risk of reliability through storage or better control systems. Falling back on reliability considerations alone results in no change when change is critical.
With oil coming from regions of the world that are increasingly unstable, with crude prices reaching new highs and with fossil fuel emissions exacerbating climate change, the risks to Hawaii’s people have increased significantly.
The good news is that innovation, technological advancements and engineering solutions have been developed for increasing the use of alternative and clean energy. Investment capital is exploring opportunities in clean-tech projects.
In addition, we also have the full backing of the U.S. federal government with the recently announced Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative, a partnership between the U.S. Department of Energy and the state of Hawaii.
Now, more than any time before, we can achieve a secure and self-sufficient energy future.
MECO is electing to refuse an additional 21 megawatts of proven wind energy, all financed by private investment. Why? It’s due to concerns over reliability. Again, how we’ve always done things in the past could overwhelm a new but better way of providing energy.
I have no opinion on and do not favor UPC Wind over any of its competitors. I believe that when faced with the opportunity, MECO should utilize as much renewable energy instead of imported oil as possible. It should take more wind projects. Instead of focusing on reliability to the exclusion of other important issues, the most important of which is security, MECO should vigorously pursue engineering and technical solutions to make renewable energy sources more reliable.
The alternative is business as usual. The people of Hawaii cannot afford to continue to risk our energy security and independence.
• Theodore E. Liu is director of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.
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