Tag Archives: HEI

Geothermal, Peak Oil, Renewable Energy Sources

Ku‘oko‘a Partners Speak at Crowded Kona Town Meeting

Richard and some of his Ku‘oko‘a partners spoke at a well-attended Kona Town Meeting the other day, and what an interesting meeting it was.

Richard Ha

Watch a video of the talks, taken by Big Island Video News: Ku’oko’a details bid to buy HEI at Kona Town Meeting.

Geothermal energy touted as last hope for Hawaii energy future

Video by David Corrigan | Voice of Stephanie Salazar

Its been several weeks since the Geothermal Working Group submitted their preliminary report to the 2011 State Legislature.

Its also been weeks since the co-chair of that effort, Hamakua farmer Richard Ha, made public his lofty goal of buying  HELCO, the island’s power company, along with some partners.

At a well attended Kona Town Meeting on Tuesday night, residents got the chance to hear the details about both of these developments, first hand….See the rest

The whole thing is worth a listen. You’ll hear Richard start speaking at 3:41 and then enthusiastic applause breaks out at around 4:50 when he says, “Maybe what we need to do is buy the electric utility out.”

Geothermal, Peak Oil

Kuokoa, Geothermal & Standard of Living

In modern Hawaiian history, the economy has taken, taken, taken and the culture has given, given, given.

Right here, right now, we have the ability to change this.

We can change things so the economy will give, give, give, and the culture – the people – will receive.

If we are successful in supplying the biggest proportion of our electrical base power from stable and inexpensive geothermal resources, thereby replacing oil, Hawai‘i will become relatively more competitive to the rest of the world, and, relative to the rest of the world, our standard of living here will rise.

I’ve written here before that I am involved with Ku‘oko‘a. It’s an idea whose time has come.

Lots of people have asked how they can help. Check out the Ku‘oko‘a website, where we will be posting ways you can help free Hawai‘i from fossil fuels, and at the same time help to raise the standard of living for our keiki.

I wrote more about The Geothermal Working Group’ Interim Report here at the blog:

There is an urgency to developing new energy resources because Hawai‘i, like most of the world, is overwhelmingly dependent upon depleting supplies of fossil fuels. The consensus among credible resource scientists and many economists is that petroleum prices will rise to unprecedented levels in a few years. Since Big Island uses oil for 90 percent of its power, this is of the utmost concern to leaders in government and business. Hawai‘i is the most petroleum-dependent state in the nation; the Big Island alone exports $1 billion annually to purchase oil for power. Geothermal is viewed as an important component in a suite of local and available energy resources. Read the rest

This is not about us. It is about future generations.

Geothermal

Why Are We Buying HEI?

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Why are we buying HEI?

It’s not complicated. HECO cannot provide inexpensive electricity without closing its oil-fired, electricity-generating plants. And it cannot close its oil-fired plants without hurting its stockholders.

So the answer is to buy the stock, and then replace the oil-fired plants as we bring inexpensive geothermal on line. We want to transform HECO from an economic anchor into an economic engine.

See this video, which explains why I got involved in this project.

It’s not something I wanted to do, but I asked myself: If not me, then who?

Folks who feel like me are starting to join up. I think people will be surprised to find out who and how many folks support us. More on that in coming days.

Biofuel, Geothermal, Peak Oil

HEI’s Flurry of Announcements

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I hear there’s somebody out there investigating me; making phone calls and asking questions about me and such.

To that person: Please feel free to call me directly. There’s nothing to hide and I’d be happy to answer any of your questions. Anybody with questions, in fact, I invite you to call me. My cell number is 808 960-1057.

Maybe what we should be investigating is what’s going on over at Hawaiian Electric Industries (HEI).

Since it was announced that Ku‘oko‘a is attempting to buy HEI in order to retire its old, oil-fired plants, the electric utility has issued a flurry of announcements:

1. The Star Advertiser reported an HEI deal with a large, wind farm operation. But it will not result in any oil-fired plants being shut down.

2. It was announced that there will be a large biofuel operation in Ka‘u on the Big Island. Its purpose will be to provide liquid fuel for HECO’s oil-fired plants.

But the EPA just announced that it was revising its 2011 estimate of cellulosic biofuels from 250 million gallons down to only to 6.5 million gallons. All the millions and millions of dollars that have been spent? They have not resulted in a single industrial-scaled production plant.

Maybe those folks in Ka‘u will be the first in the entire U.S. to be successful. We are rooting for them. But they are not farmers; they say they may grow sorghum or guinea grass. Farmers just shake their heads at that.

The real question is, How much will it cost Big Island citizens to subsidize this crop? And for how long would we be subsidizing it?

3. Maybe HEI will soon announce that the 8 MW geothermal contract is done. I thought it would have been done a year ago.

HEI should be putting more geothermal on line faster, rather than slower. They should be aggressively bringing more geothermal on line. They’re wasting valuable time. How come we’ve got this geothermal resource but are not using more of it? We know that if we use more of that cheap geothermal resource, it will really benefit us here in Hawai‘i.

HEI says they are for geothermal, but we know they truly are not, because they cannot shut down their oil-fired plant. They’re trying to make us believe they can and will, but they cannot, because they have to keep their stock value high for shareholders.

It’s why we’re looking for a new model.

Geothermal is the least expensive of all the base power alternatives for electricity, and its costs will be stable for as far to the future as we can see – unlike oil and biofuels, the costs of which will continue to go up.

Geothermal, Peak Oil, Television, Video

Richard Explains On Video Re: Kuokoa Takeover Of HEI

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This video talks about why we, as Kuokoa, are buying HEI: It is to retool HEI, so the utility can help us all cope in the future. I filmed it for Eco TV a few days ago. It’s in four parts, each 4 or 5 minutes long.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

This video will be going out on the social media circuit and on mainstream TV.

Although some folks are attacking “the messenger,” the average person we talk to says, “It’s about time something is done.”

We are serious! Our data shows that this will work, and the higher oil prices climb, the better it will work.

This is about taking care of everyone. The result will be to lower electricity costs across the state, keep some money in our pockets as prices skyrocket everywhere else, and to strengthen the aloha spirit. For that is what we will need to help us cope with an uncertain future.

Peak Oil

Kuokoa Wants to Buy Hawaiian Electric Industries

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Richard has a lot going on right now. This article from Pacific Business News has a good overview of what’s happening at the recently formed company Ku‘oko‘a Inc., where he has been named chairman of the board:

Kuokoa wants to buy HECO’s parent; it would sell American Savings

Pacific Business News – by Sophie Cocke, Pacific Business News

Date: Thursday, January 6, 2011, 8:06pm HST

A company called Kuokoa Inc. has been formed for the purpose of buying all the shares of Hawaiian Electric Industries and converting the publicly traded company into a private concern.

Honolulu-based Hawaiian Electric Industries is the holding company for American Savings Bank, Hawaiian Electric Co. on Oahu, Maui Electric Co. on Maui and Hawaii Electric and Light Co. on the Big Island.

If successful, Kuokoa CEO Roald Marth said the company would sell American Savings Bank.

Kuokoa is being led by Chairman Richard Ha, who is owner of Hamakua Springs Country Farms on the Big Island; President Ted Peck, who has resigned his position as the state’s energy administrator; and CEO Marth, who is a venture capitalist with an international reputation. Peck’s last day as Hawaii’s energy administrator is Friday.

Read more: Kuokoa wants to buy HECO’s parent; it would sell American Savings | Pacific Business News