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Press release photo
An artist's drawing shows the proposed Waena
generating station, as seen from Pulehu Road.

Maui wrestles
with how to solve
future electricity needs

The plan to build a new oil-fired
plant meets some reluctance

By Gary T. Kubota
Maui correspondent

WAILUKU -- Maui Electric says it needs to build a $417 million, oil-fired generating plant to provide for energy demands on the Valley Isle.

But some consumers who oppose the project believe the public utility should be doing more to encourage energy conservation and develop solar and wind power.

They also are critical of the rising cost of electricity and the likelihood of more air pollution on an island that relies upon its pristine environment to attract visitors.

Assuming consumers used 600 kilowatt hours a month, Maui residential customers paid a monthly bill of $92 for most of last year, compared to $75 for Oahu, nearly $112 for the Big Island, and close to $115 on Kauai.

Maui Electric says the first phase of the proposed plant will cost a residential customer $3 a month more.

County Council members have decided to delay the company's zoning request for a new site until May, when the company completes a revised energy plan.

Council members say they are not convinced the new plant needs to produce all of its power through oil-fired generators.

"I'm not completely sold," Councilman Dain Kane said.

"I don't believe there's enough information for me as an individual member to decide on our energy needs."

Councilman J. Kalani English, land use committee chairman, said Council members may consider placing conditions on the zoning that encourage development of alternate energy.

The proposed development, expected to serve Maui for 25 to 30 years, is planned on a 65-acre site, a quarter-mile mauka of the county landfill in central Maui and about three miles from the nearest populated area.

A number of environmentalists acknowledge that the proposed site is a better location than the plants in Kahului and Maalaea, which are closer to homes.

The Kahului plant also is within a tsunami inundation zone and the Maalaea plant is next to the Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge.

Maui Electric's president, William Bonnet, said that the company has worked with a number of groups to develop renewable energy projects and found many to be more costly than operating oil-fired generators.

In addition, wind and solar companies on Maui have not provided "firm power" that can be stored, leaving the utility with the responsibility of providing back-up generation and limiting its use of renewable energy, he said.

Bonnet said that because of its geographic isolation, Maui Electric is unable to rely upon other utilities for emergency power and needs to provide its own back-up power, adding to the cost of electricity.

He said the proposed site is needed to meet anticipated energy growth of about 2 percent a year and the utility will need additional capacity by the year 2006 or 2007.

The company is unable to expand its Kahului generating plant because of air-quality standards and has reached capacity at its Maalaea plant, he said.

Critics say the planning rests on the assumption that oil prices remain stable and do not rise dramatically.

They fear Maui Electric will lock itself financially into a design for oil-powered generators as oil prices increase, and be unable to take advantage of scientific innovations in renewable energy.