Governor Ige Visits Kauai's Utility Co-Op

The Anahola solar array, part of KIUC.

On the island of Kauai in Hawaii, power is supplied by a small, cooperative nonprofit utility company, KAUAI ISLAND UTILITY COOPERATIVE (KIUC). This company serves 33.000 households and prides itself on being a leader in the use of renewable energy resources.

Hawaiian Governor David Ige paid a visit to the company in June, after he had been keynote speaker at the dedication of the Green Energy Team biomass plant just outside Lihue in April. This $90 million plant came online in January and uses wood chips from several sources, including the invasive albizia tree, which is being cleared from local lands. The company that runs the plant, Green Energy, is under contract with KIUC and supplies about 12% of Kauai's energy needs.



While touring the plant, Gov. Ige noted how useful Green Energy's power sources are, especially in the Kokee area, which had been swept by wildfire in 2012. That company helped clear the debris and was utilizing it as a power resource.

Gov. Ige then visited the Koloa solar array. KIUC staff members explained how the battery array operates to keep the power running when cloud cover decreases the amount of solar energy available from the array. Back in Lihue, Gov. Ige met with KIUC board of directors and senior staff. Then he also met with engineering staff, a group with whom he has much in common, since the Governor is also an electrical engineer. There, he was shown how KIUC tracks the mixture of energy resources, which fluctuates throughout a typical day.

During Gov. Ige's meeting with the board of directors, he found out how cooperative ownership differs from investor-owned utilities. KIUC president and CEO David Bissell explained how the utility had gone from only 9% renewable energy to the current 40%, while being able to utilize the flexibility provided through cooperative ownership.

Mr. Bissell said, "There's only one group we serve: our members. We don't have to try to balance the needs of the customers against the expectations of the shareholders."

Gov. Ige tours Koloa solar array (left) and meets with KIUC board of directors (right).

Gov. Ige was impressed with the work by the utility to reduce its reliance on oil for electric power. He said, "I was really impressed by KIUC's leadership and everything they've accomplished so far in pursuing their renewable energy goals, which are very ambitious. Kauai really is leading the way in showing how a mix of resources - solar, hydro, biomass - can be integrated reliably onto the grid and help move us toward our mandate of being 100 percent renewable by 2045."

Teamwork is vital in maintaining the power grid.

Indeed, KIUC is a bit different from those large power companies that abound on the mainland. But conversions like this need to happen to prevent precious resources from being depleted entirely, leaving nothing but a bleak footprint.

Thanks for information from this issue of Content Magazine: http://kiuc.coopwebbuilder2.com/sites/kiuc/files/PDF/currents/2016-06-Currents.pdf, page 6; and the above link.

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