KIUC Signs Biomass Deal With Green Energy Team

Kaua'i Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC), a not-for-profit generation, transmission and distribution electric cooperative, has signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for a biomass-to-energy project with Green Energy Team, developer of renewable energy projects in the state of Hawai'i. This project, to be located near Koloa, aims at reducing the fossil fuel dependency of Kaua'i by 3.7 million gallons per year in addition to addressing the energy needs of more than 8,500 Kaua'i households by providing biomass-fired generation.

The project aims at maximum utilization of natural fertilization processes such as using fertilizers which are byproducts of the plant combustion cycle and intercropping with alternate rows of nitrogen-fixing trees. In a release, Phil Tacbian, chairman of KIUC's board, said that “KIUC is not just accelerating its goals; we are reinventing how Kaua'i is powered. Our cooperative is serious about eliminating Kaua'i's dependence on fossil fuel, and this biomass project is one of a wide array of resources that will get us there.”

The objective of KIUC's board of directors is to make the cooperative 50 percent renewable by 2023, whereas David Bissell, the co-op's acting CEO sounded positive on achieving the targets sooner with the support of KIUC’s directors. In a release, Bissell said that “with the wide portfolio of projects we are pursuing which includes hydropower, photovoltaic, bio-fuel, battery storage, and additional biomass, we are working towards 50 percent renewable in half that time. The project will go far to reinvigorate a diversified agricultural economy on the island, bringing jobs in agriculture, power plant operations and construction.”

More than 2500 acres of short-rotation biomass would supply the necessary fuel for this carbon neutral electricity conversion project. This project, while meeting the objective of reducing Kaua'i's dependency on foreign oil, also ensures that the agricultural use of the state lands would result in the availability of numerous agriculture related jobs and more energy at affordable prices in the forthcoming years. In addition, the need for an extra fossil-fuel fired power generation has also been eliminated by this project.