The board of directors of Kauai Island Utility Cooperative last month approved spending up to $50,000 to study the cost of moving the former Lihue Plantation Company power plant to the Westside. There, it would burn bagasse from Gay &
The board of directors of Kauai Island Utility Cooperative last month approved spending up to $50,000 to study the cost of moving the former Lihue Plantation Company power plant to the Westside.
There, it would burn bagasse from Gay & Robinson, Inc., the island’s last sugar company. Bagasse is a renewable-energy resource, or biofuel, generated during the processing of sugar cane.
The board earlier approved funds to hire a consulting firm in Washington, D.C., to seek federal grant or loan funds to assist with the purchase.
Representatives of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service, which loaned the co-op $215 million to purchase the former Kauai Electric from its Mainland parent company, have expressed interest in the project.
They have low-interest funds to loan for the purchase of the bagasse plant from Amfac, Inc., LP’s parent company, and to move it to Kaumakani, where G&R’s mill is located.
The LP mill used to produce over 10 percent of the island’s electricity, and can burn bagasse or diesel fuel. It closed down at the end of last year when parent company Amfac, Inc. discontinued sugar operations, and the company’s contract to provide power to KIUC also ended.
Co-op representatives have been negotiating a plant purchase price with personnel from Amfac. The status of those negotiations is not known at present.
“The purchase of the now-closed LPC Plant for the purpose of moving said plant closer to the present supply of bagasse should be further evaluated,” the approved KIUC board resolution states.
“KIUC staff is prepared to select” an engineering firm to conduct the study, the resolution notes.
The matter will be discussed further, in executive session, at the KIUC board meeting scheduled for Tuesday, May 27, at 1:30 p.m. at KIUC’s Kukui Grove Village West offices.
Also to be discussed in executive session next week is the potential purchase of the Kauai Power Partners’ power-generating unit at KIUC’s Lihue Energy Service Center off Maalo Road near Kapaia.
When the LESC was first proposed, and eventually built with the Kauai Power Partners unit generating 26 megawatts of power by burning naphtha, contract provisions allowed Kauai Electric (now KIUC) personnel to negotiate an eventual purchase of the KPP power plant, or simply continue buying power from KPP.
It cost around $30 million to install the plant, but a purchase price could be substantially higher because it would take into account the plant’s future electrical-generating and income-generating capabilities.
Alton Miyamoto, KIUC president and chief executive officer, was unavailable for comment yesterday.
Business Editor Paul C. Curtis can be reached at pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
