Hawaii is in an excellent position to try out the full range of storage technologies and discover which work best for them.
They have underground cavities that used to be full of lava, for compressed air, hydrogen storage, or pumped hydro. They have mountains pumped-hydro reservoirs would be easy to build on. They have deep ocean trenches just offshore for undersea compressed air and buoyancy.
Choices for renewable generation include not just solar and wind, but also undersea currents and wave air pumping.
> They say they'll eventually get enough intermittent online, but that is many years away.
> This is a poorly thought out, haphazardly executed plan.
The facts don’t support these assertions. The higher oil consumption is temporary until delayed utility scale solar and geothermal projects come online [1] (supply chain issues). A recent battery project with Tesla Megapacks [2] replaced AES’ coal plant for grid services.
The price of oil pushes renewables adoption velocity in this situation, as clean energy options are cheaper than burning oil for electricity. Before this closure, Oahu had roughly equal coal vs solar generation capacity (~200MW). It’s obviously cheaper to replace that coal generation with batteries that can charge from renewables.
> “It is really unfortunate that we are having to rely on oil for a short period of time to transition from coal to the solar and battery projects,” Glenn said. “[But] it underscores the whole reason we need to make this change. Because oil is incredibly volatile. And we have to pay for it in a way that you don’t have to with solar battery.”
> He said the state is expected to close some of its oil power plants in the coming years, including part of the Waiau power plant on Oahu.
> Sandra Larsen, market business leader for AES in Hawaii, said the company supports the shuttering of its coal power plant and is now working on six renewable energy projects across the state’s four island counties. One of its projects, Kuihelani, is expected to generate power for about 27,000 homes on Maui.
> “The coal plant was needed to help stabilize Oahu’s electricity rates and the economy … 30 years later, it’s time to move on,” she said.
> The higher oil consumption is temporary until delayed utility scale solar and geothermal projects come online
Then why not keep the plant online until solar is running. Increasing energy costs will affect the poorest and most vulnerable. There’s no pressing need to shut down the plant sooner than its replacement is ready.
Hawaii is in an excellent position to try out the full range of storage technologies and discover which work best for them.
They have underground cavities that used to be full of lava, for compressed air, hydrogen storage, or pumped hydro. They have mountains pumped-hydro reservoirs would be easy to build on. They have deep ocean trenches just offshore for undersea compressed air and buoyancy.
Choices for renewable generation include not just solar and wind, but also undersea currents and wave air pumping.
Volcanic cavities and mountains are not necessarily stable enough and impervious enough to be relied on as reservoirs.
Undersea CAES may be worth trying, but I don't know why it hasn't yet been tried.
Seabed-mounted buoyancy seems to me most promising, but I doubt anybody is working on it.
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They should be doubling down on solar farms and off shore wind -- they have plenty of both.
Zero interest loans to install solar on every residence and business possible as well.
https://www.hawaiianelectric.com/clean-energy-hawaii/our-cle...
With all those volcanoes, why not geothermal?
They're just switching from coal to oil, and the oil will be a lot more expensive and the sourcing less reliable.
They say they'll eventually get enough intermittent online, but that is many years away.
This is a poorly thought out, haphazardly executed plan.
> They say they'll eventually get enough intermittent online, but that is many years away.
> This is a poorly thought out, haphazardly executed plan.
The facts don’t support these assertions. The higher oil consumption is temporary until delayed utility scale solar and geothermal projects come online [1] (supply chain issues). A recent battery project with Tesla Megapacks [2] replaced AES’ coal plant for grid services.
The price of oil pushes renewables adoption velocity in this situation, as clean energy options are cheaper than burning oil for electricity. Before this closure, Oahu had roughly equal coal vs solar generation capacity (~200MW). It’s obviously cheaper to replace that coal generation with batteries that can charge from renewables.
> “It is really unfortunate that we are having to rely on oil for a short period of time to transition from coal to the solar and battery projects,” Glenn said. “[But] it underscores the whole reason we need to make this change. Because oil is incredibly volatile. And we have to pay for it in a way that you don’t have to with solar battery.”
> He said the state is expected to close some of its oil power plants in the coming years, including part of the Waiau power plant on Oahu.
> Sandra Larsen, market business leader for AES in Hawaii, said the company supports the shuttering of its coal power plant and is now working on six renewable energy projects across the state’s four island counties. One of its projects, Kuihelani, is expected to generate power for about 27,000 homes on Maui.
> “The coal plant was needed to help stabilize Oahu’s electricity rates and the economy … 30 years later, it’s time to move on,” she said.
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/31/hawaii-close...
[2] https://www.kapoleienergystorage.com/
> The higher oil consumption is temporary until delayed utility scale solar and geothermal projects come online
Then why not keep the plant online until solar is running. Increasing energy costs will affect the poorest and most vulnerable. There’s no pressing need to shut down the plant sooner than its replacement is ready.
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