Did you know? AES Coal Plant to biomass facility
AES Coal Plant to biomass facility? For some, this may seem like old news, and for others an on-going question. We are not sure of the latest status on this idea or potentially future initiative, but since it’s the holiday season, we felt the need to talk about coal and who's on Santa’s naughty list. Either way, all Oʻahu residents will sadly still be getting coal fired energy for another year until the forced closure in 2023.
Or will the multinational corporate giant, AES Energy, use one of their nine lives and get a chance to get more revenue off of local ratepayers. After all, the facility is paid off and there are profits to be made. Earlier this year, Hawaiian Natural Energy Institute gave a presentation on the possibilities of a biomass conversion. It was a general first look, but the takeaway sentiment from most legislators was it could be a win-win since the infrastructure is there, current employees can easily adapt, and blackouts would be avoided. Since then, Hawaiian Electric shared that converting the coal power plant to biomass isn’t part of their plans. They have enough renewable energy sources and storage technology to meet the needs of its customers. But the ongoing fear of rolling blackouts when the coal plant shuts down still looms. Supposedly, coal to biomass energy at AES would fix that.
But the irony of the situation cannot be overlooked. Growing, shipping, and burning trees to create energy to address the climate crisis is a bit of a false solution. This process is laden with emissions and air pollutants. I can’t imagine what supporters of Hawaiʻi’s efforts to plant a million trees to capture carbon and cool hotspots like urban Honolulu must be thinking. Also, the Sierra Club’s Hawaiʻi Island Group and environmental justice group Life of the Land, have experience with raising concerns and fighting biomass facilities because of the environmental and health impacts on nearby residents with Hu Honua BioEnergy, who proposed clear-cutting forests to make wood chips and burn them to generate electricity. The environmental justice that the AES coal-plant-turned-biomass facility would only perpetuate the harm the facility has had on West Oʻahu residents cannot be downplayed. Biomass facilities have been called “carbon neutral” and “inexpensive” by proponents, yet opponents say the air pollution, water demands, and the cost of transport could actually be more per kilowatt than solar.
However, there is one caveat to this critique - if the PUC must allow for biomass to avoid blackouts, then strict conditions should be set for the facility like: set an end date, trees used will be a part of addressing invasive species, and build community-scale and led projects that don’t undermine the health and well-being of (agricultural) land and impacted residents. Or perhaps a doubling-down on efficiency efforts recognizing that Hawaiian Electric and developers, mostly foreign, are trying to satisfy a ravenous energy demand on an outdated centralized system that is absolutely not climate resilient. Perhaps it’s time to take an honest look at who and where is making the biggest demand on the grid, for example all those luxury high rise condos in Kakaʻako or resorts in Waikiki, and manufacture mechanisms that have them pull their own weight. That is the only way to build a just and equitable energy system.
The answer to avoiding rolling blackouts can’t always be build more, build bigger, and force it on already overburdened communities. We know that the historical and present day environmental racism and injustices raised are a serious concern shared by the Public Utilities Commission, the State Energy Office, and even Hawaiian Electric CEO Scott Seu recognizes the issue thanks to community leadership demanding action on this energy burden.
Report: New Survey Shows How Electric Utilities and Policymakers Are Holding Back Local Solar.
The Institute for Local Self-Reliance, founded in 1974, is a national nonprofit research and advocacy organization, whose mission is to “build local power by fighting corporate control to create thriving, diverse, and equitable communities”. They do this by confronting “concentrated economic and political power in the United States, dismantling systemic racism because the institutions, laws, and policies that fuel monopoly power carry hundreds of years of racial exploitation and oppression in their coding.” Sound familiar? This is why when we have conversations on our energy system, we root it in its white supremacy beginnings and how 3 out of 5 of Hawaiian Electric founders’ had critical ties to the overthrow. How can we expect to change the course of our energy system if the inherently unjust building blocks are still in place? We don’t think it’s possible either.
We know we are not alone in this fight, as communities across the nation fight to shift power away from corporate control and into the hands of everyday residents. The 2021 Local Solar Developer Survey, is an insightful look at local issues and barriers to decentralizing our energy system and project setbacks. It seeks to identify the most common and impactful barriers to local solar through findings from distributed solar developers.
Here are some of the findings that resonate with local issues:
Interconnection policies and fees (insert anecdotal story if can find one)
Program capacity limits.
Land use approvals, aka permitting issues
For community-based renewable energy program advocates, like us, we hope that taking a hard look at these “common barriers” can result in making more demands of our utility to make good on its promises to put more rooftop solar on the grid and listen to communities.
Yet Hawaiʻi as a whole is still number one in the nation for high energy bills. The barriers, obstacles, excuses, and delays keep weighing on our electricity bills and patience. Although just last month, Hawaiian Electric vowed to cut its emissions by 70% by 2030. And with new leadership, we can be cautiously optimistic that while the net energy metering program incentive ended in 2015, there are more pathways being created by the Public Utilities Commission and community leaders to make individual and shared solar a viable option for everyday people.
If you are reading this, then you probably already know how far behind we are on reaching our renewable energy goals. For example, as of the time of writing this article, Oʻahu is using over 60% fossil fuels with solar at around 19% during midday. And even though Kauaʻi boasts a broader renewable portfolio profile, that hasn’t necessarily translated into bill relief for residents. Energy justice is critical to our future, and the conversations on future resiliency must include changes to address past and present harms that large-scale utility projects place on communities.
Federal Energy Justice Dashboard!
The Department of Energy (DOE), under the leadership of energy justice rockstar Shalanda Baker, is demonstrating a commitment to those impacted by pollution as the first beneficiaries of clean energy solutions. Biden signed an Executive Order this year establishing the Justice40 Initiative, a government-wide initiative to deliver 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal investments to disadvantaged communities.
Through the Energy Justice Dashboard, DOE is working to better understand how the Department’s funding and investments are distributed to overburdened and underserved communities that have been left behind and unheard for too long.
The Energy Justice Dashboard (BETA) is a pilot data visualization tool that displays DOE-specific investments in communities across the country experiencing disproportionately high and adverse economic, human health, climate-related, environmental, and other cumulative impacts. The Dashboard displays DOE cost data — grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts — from more than twenty-five DOE program offices, for the fiscal years 2019 to present. Check it out here!