It was big news last winter when Hawaiian Electric Company – HECO, the utility that serves O`ahu – announced that it had reached power purchase agreements (PPAs) with developers of six large-scale solar farms that would, when operational, feed more … Continued
The Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism (DBEDT) has issued its first “true-up” for the Green Energy Market Securitization (GEMS) bonds. The true-up, a required element of the program approved by the Public Utilities Commission, is a periodic accounting … Continued
In March, Environment Hawai`i provided details – to the extent they were available – of a state-administered program called GEMS, short for Green Energy Market Securitization. The program is intended, according to enabling legislation, to bring the blessings of solar … Continued
Since 2009, customers of the Hawaiian Electric companies have been charged a Public Benefits Fee. Calculated as a percentage of usage, the fee pays a contractor to the state Public Utilities Commission who manages a program that is intended … Continued
Usually, when a state board or commission is asked to make a decision, its staff will prepare a background report. In the case of the Board of Land and Natural Resources, for example, the staff report can run to several … Continued
When cooking up its Green Energy Market Securitization (GEMS) program, the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism seems to have followed the recipe for growing mushrooms. You know the one: keep them in the dark and feed them … … Continued
That didn’t take long. On February 4, the state Public Utilities Commission (PUC) dismissed without prejudice a petition filed late last December by West Wind Works, LLC, Investricity, Ltd., and PSP III, LLC, seeking to revive their rejected 30 megawatt … Continued
Land Board Approves Lease for Hawai`i County Wind Farm The state Board of Land and Natural Resources has agreed to forgo nearly half a million dollars in rent over the next ten years so Hawai`i island residents can save money on … Continued
Posted June 18, 2013 Construction work on the Hu Honua power plant just north of Hilo has pretty well come to a halt — the result, apparently, of a dispute between unions representing boilermakers, on the one hand, and plumbers … Continued
Posted 09/24/2012 The Environmental Protection Agency’s administrator, Lisa P. Jackson, is being sued by opponents of the Hu Honua power plant. The plant, in Pepe’ekeo, is being built on the site of a sugar mill. Its operators say they will … Continued