Alternative power sources will fire proposed ethanol plant by Nathan Eagle – THE GARDEN ISLAND KAUMAKANI — Gay & Robinson President Alan Kennett said yesterday that coal will not power a proposed ethanol plant under development by partners Gay &
Alternative power sources will fire proposed ethanol plant
by Nathan Eagle – THE GARDEN ISLAND
KAUMAKANI — Gay & Robinson President Alan Kennett said yesterday that coal will not power a proposed ethanol plant under development by partners Gay & Robinson and Pacific West Energy, which together have invested $80 million in the multi-pronged project.
Designed to annually produce 12-million gallons of liquid fuel from sugar juice and molasses, he said, the Kaumakani-based refinery will be the first major component as the historic Kaua‘i sugar company transitions to a renewable energy plantation.
The feedstock supply will come from 7,500 acres of sugar fields the Robinson family cultivates on the Westside.
In response to community concerns over the harmful environmental impact of burning coal, Pacific West Energy President William Maloney told a leading local group advocating energy independence that cleaner power sources will be used instead.
“I am pleased to inform you and Apollo Kaua‘i that our collective boards of directors have reviewed the coal issue and we have made the decision that coal will not be part of our business model, as either a primary or supplemental fuel for the ethanol plant or power generation,” Maloney states in a Wednesday letter to Apollo Kaua‘i Chair Ben Sullivan. “We have heard your organization, and others’ voices as well, including our own senior management and directors, and we have concluded that coal has no place in our green energy business.”
Construction for the plant is expected to begin by late-December or early-January and be operational by the second quarter of 2009, Kennett said.
Despite potential project delays and added costs, the companies have started moving in a direction that supports their unbending non-coal stance.
“We have commenced the necessary re-modeling to modify our existing air permit for the ethanol plant to convert to a biomass (bagasse) boiler, and informed the state Department of Health of our intention in this regard,” Maloney states. “We have asked our engineers to design a non-coal co-generation facility. Our green power plans will also over time allow us to reduce and hopefully eliminate the burning of sugar cane in the fields, reducing air pollution and another environmental grievance that we know exists on Kaua‘i.”
Sullivan called the decision “a positive development” in the growing local, state, national and world movement to cut back on burning fossil fuels that contribute to global warming.
“I am greatly relieved that our shared concerns about the use of coal at your proposed ethanol facility have been put to rest, and I am confident that your decision will allow the project to better serve both your investors and our community,” he states in a Thursday letter to Maloney. “Apollo Kaua‘i does recognize the need for supplemental liquid fuels to help a transition away from our severe oil dependence, as well as the potential of sugarcane to provide a meaningful energy return as an alternative to gasoline. We are also confident of your intentions to establish appropriate controls regarding point source pollution, and given that, and your decision not to use coal, I am advocating to our group and our community that we support this project as a supplemental source of liquid fuel for Hawai‘i.”
Since the state Legislature passed a law more than a year ago requiring 85 percent of gasoline contain 10 percent ethanol, Hawai‘i oil companies have reportedly been forced to import more than 55 million gallons of the grain-based fuel.
The Gay & Robinson Ag-Energy operation would produce almost one-third of the state’s 40-million-gallon demand for ethanol, Maloney has said.
Although Kennett said he had wanted coal as a cheap, efficient and reliable power source, he underscored his commitment to instead use alternative energy sources such as bagasse and cane trash.
“Our major concern in the decision to not burn coal is we do not put our entire energy plan at risk,” he said in an e-mail yesterday.
The project will preserve 230 jobs, likely create 100 more, and keep the land in agricultural production, the company presidents have said.
Future business plans, Maloney has said, call for a renewable energy power plant, hopefully operational within three years, that is expected to produce 25 megawatts in part from solar, biodiesel and hydro power.
Later, a methane recovery system and the processing of municipal solid waste will be added to the “energy plantation,” he said.
Sullivan underlined two points regarding liquid fuel supplies.
“One, they will continue on their steep price climb indefinitely,” he said. “Two, biofuels can only make up for a fraction of our consumption, and without changes in habits, will do very little to alleviate our compounding oil crisis.”
Sullivan said he has seen a fortunate trend on Kaua‘i in the willingness of more people to get out of their cars and ride the bus, for example, to avoid escalating energy costs.
“Likely this trend will continue as gasoline prices will inevitably begin to reflect the recent jumps in oil prices that now fluctuate around $90 a barrel.” he said. “I think we’ll soon see an end to the myth that has been perpetuated by Detroit for the last century, that Americans will continue to drive regardless of the price.”
• Nathan Eagle, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or neagle@kauaipubco.com.
