There are many energy announcements these days, but there was a really impressive one recently in Puna.

It was the 15th anniversary of geothermal energy in the Big Island by PGV, Puna Geothermal Venture, a part of Ormat Technologies (a global geothermal leader that was incidentally in the scientific news last week — see www.thinktechhawaii.com/ormat.aspx).

Today, PGV is the only source of firm renewable energy in Hawai'i. Are we taking full advantage of it?

FEELING OF SUCCESS

Imagine a wet day in a wild cane field in Puna. A large tent and hundreds of people. The entire food chain is there, from Duke Aiona to HELCO, the mayor, the PUC, legislators and PGV's management and staff and even its landlord. Dan Inouye would have been there but he was called away.

Over the hill, there's a low-profile high-tech facility. It has turbines, pipes and rigs painted green and looks very well maintained. There are five wells and 10 turbines generating 30 megawatts while you watch. See www.thinktechhawaii.com/pgv.aspx.

The talk is all energy. Ormat executives and PGV staff are comfortable with each other. Some of the old-time protesters are there, reflecting their change of attitude since the 1990s. There is a feeling of collaborative success. It's more than a celebration — it's a reunion of the players and events of the past 15 years in geothermal in Hawai'i, a coming together of old colleagues and adversaries, and it touches you.

The dream at Puna is a reality, supplying firm and reliable power to the Big Island grid, without noise, emissions or environmental damage, thanks to decades of interactive research.

PGV provides 20 percent of the power on the Big Island, and the Big Island uses the highest percentage, 30 percent, of the renewables being consumed in Hawai'i. PGV has permits to produce as much as 60 megawatts, and plant manager Mike Kaleikini says that PGV would be able to expand its production to as much as 200 megawatts by 2025.

The problem is not with the power or its quality. There are more geothermal reserves than could be tapped — geothermal at Puna is virtually unlimited. The problem is rather with managing energy supply and demand on the Big Island, and dealing with any remaining community or cultural concerns.

GEOTHERMAL IN KONA

PGV hopes to sell another 8 megawatts to HELCO, and the two are negotiating a long-term power purchase agreement for that additional power. They haven't agreed on a price yet, but they expect the total price for the 8 megawatts will be fixed and not linked to oil prices, as is the first 30 megawatts.

Energy demand is split 50-50 between the Hilo side and the Kona side, but there is greater generation capacity on the Hilo side. There are no plans for a new generating plant in Kona, fossil or otherwise. So can't we transmit more power from PGV to Kona to balance things out?

There is an islandwide grid. Transmission lines run along the saddle road, along the Hamakua Coast, and around South Point. But HELCO president Jay Ignacio says transmitting a substantial increase in power from PGV to Kona may require an upgrade to the grid.

But will it be better to upgrade the grid or build another PGV in Kona? One factor is having "too many eggs in one basket," too much power from one source. PGV is in a rift zone and an eruption could disrupt production. So it's probably not a great idea for PGV to produce more than 60 megawatts, 40 percent of the Big Island's consumption.

Kona does have geothermal, but it's farther away from the volcanic hotspot and not as hot. Mike Kaleikini says building another plant in Kona could cost upward of $165 million, which is probably more than the cost of upgrading the grid. The cost of another plant would presumptively fall on Ormat but, who knows.

BALANCING THE POWERS

The grid is getting wind from South Point and Kohala (10 percent), and hydroelectric from Hilo (4 percent). HELCO operations manager Jose Dizon reports that when the trades are blowing and the hydro is running, HELCO is getting close to 50 percent of its power from renewables. That's fantastic, and it shows that the Big Island is a great development laboratory for renewables.

On the other hand, wind and hydro do not run all the time. They are non-firm, and thus problematic, because HELCO doesn't have the storage to maintain power quality. PGV has a clear advantage over other renewables on the Big Island.

When PGV adds the turbines it will need for the new 8 megawatts, that power will be "dispatchable." That means that HELCO can dial in and control PGV's output from 30 to 38 megawatts. When power is dispatchable, HELCO will pay a premium, not for the amount consumed but for the critical guarantee that the power will be available when needed.

PGV's purchase power agreements should be more favorable than the agreements given to producers who provide non-firm power or power, which is available only at scheduled times.

NOT ENOUGH DEMAND

Of course, we should be exploring all renewables. We want competition, and we want to avoid the risk of having all the eggs in one basket. But we need to recognize the successful ones, and to expand the proven technologies. Otherwise, the best ones will burn out for lack of an adequate return.

One reason HELCO is not buying 60 megawatts from PGV is that there isn't enough demand. Right now, supply exceeds demand by some 30 percent. But much of this supply is coming from fossil fuel. If we started taking fossil fuel power off line, we could gradually replace it with renewables. That would reduce our dependency on oil energy, and it would increase our use of renewables. Why don't we just do that?

We would ultimately want HELCO to buy all the renewables it can get and store the excess in batteries or hydrogen for use when needed. In the existing model, HELCO uses oil first then tops it off with available renewables. Going forward, we want HELCO to use high-quality, dispatchable renewables first then top them off, if it's necessary, with oil.

Let's not limit a proven renewable like geothermal. Let's use it and encourage its use as much as we can. Geothermal energy is a primary if not a leading development candidate, and we should make a prominent place for it in our statewide system.

Happy anniversary, you guys. We can't wait for the next one.

Jay Fidell is a business lawyer practicing in Honolulu. He has followed tech and tech policy closely and is a founder of ThinkTech Hawaii. Check out his blog at www.HonoluluAdvertiser.com/Blogs