• KIUC fighting solar power • Stop DAT complaining • No pity from me KIUC fighting solar power In this time of feverish interest in solar, wind, and other alternative energies, our co-op utility company is being very uncooperative. In
• KIUC fighting solar power
• Stop DAT complaining
• No pity from me
KIUC fighting solar power
In this time of feverish interest in solar, wind, and other alternative energies, our co-op utility company is being very uncooperative.
In the spirit of our changing times, we invested in a $ 30,000 photovoltaic system for the roof of our home. I must admit it looks really fabulous. But what do we get when we sell our extra electricity to KIUC? Not much!
Here on the Garden Island, a kilowatt hour of electricity currently costs about 30 cents. When KIUC buys our solar generated power back from us (under the Schedule Q agreement), they pay us 10 cents per kilowatt hour or a third of the going rate. Keep in mind that when they make electricity, they have to buy diesel fuel in order to make power, while ours is made by good old sunshine.
Now, in all fairness, I have to mention that KIUC has a net metering program that will pay you the going rate. Sounds great! But they don’t have any of those agreements available. When questioned about when they might, KIUC says that they don’t think they will have any more net metering agreements available, ever. The reason being, KIUC has a cap on the amount of solar power they are willing to integrate into their grid. One percent. That’s right, 1 percent. They obviously did not get the memo from President Obama about alternative energy growth.
If you want to flush some old tired ideas and replace the KIUC board with forward thinkers, do your homework and find out who will back more alternative energy on the island.
In one of the sunniest spots in the world, with the highest priced electricity in the nation, we must influence KIUC to embrace solar power and other green technologies and come out of the dark ages of fossil fuel and co-operate.
Carroll Gerow, Kilauea
Stop DAT complaining
This letter is in response to the article about the approval of a use permit for Island Helicopters to land on at a secluded waterfall on private property in Hanapepe. (“Helicopters to land at Manawaiopuna Falls,” The Garden Island, March 11)
The article states that the approval was opposed by a group calling itself Stop DAT. One of their representatives is quoted in the article as saying that his group is concerned that this approval might set a precedent for other helicopter companies. But there are already two other companies operating on Kaua‘i who have approval to land on private property.
One landing site is at a waterfall mauka of Moloa’a, and the other one is overlooking the Olokele Valley on the Westside of the island. Since a precedent already exists, and the noise group is unaware of it, then it seems logical that such landings are not making much of an impact on the island. They seem to have not even caught the attention of a group whose mission it is to oppose tour helicopter operations.
Stop DAT’s representative also stated that the approval should have been denied because allowing the air tourism industry to grow would be detrimental to the community’s general welfare. Over the last 10 years, the following helicopter companies have gone out of business on this island: Hawai‘i Helicopters, ‘Ohana Helicopters, Bali Hai Helicopters, South Sea Helicopters, Heli USA and Air Kaua‘i. So the air tourism industry on this island is actually declining, not growing.
Every one of these companies had flight staffs, maintenance staffs, administrative staffs, office personnel, and van drivers. They paid state taxes and GET taxes and employee salaries.
Today, the companies still operating on Kauai are mostly just getting by. It could certainly be argued that the loss of all these companies has been even more detrimental to the community’s general welfare. Unless you happen to be one of the fortunate few who is independently wealthy and doesn’t need to work in order to live here. For the rest of the community, quite a few jobs in the aviation industry simply no longer exist.
Finally, the company states that the timing of their new tour will reduce the number of flights per aircraft from eight per day to five. So this too would seem an odd point of contention for a group trying to limit helicopter flights around the island.
Unfortunately, no matter what the helicopter operators on Kaua‘i do, some people will continue to complain and refuse to acknowledge any concessions made in their favor.
Nicholas Ledington-Fischer, Wailua Homesteads
No pity from me
I really had to laugh out loud at the letter from the absentee property owners from Boulder, Colo. (“Property rights stripped,” Letters, March 12)
They were whining about not being able to rent out their illegal vacation home located on ag land. Hey folks, for 19 years you have been breaking the law and now it’s caught up with you. I am positive that you did not buy that plot of land with the understanding that you could build any old thing you wanted on it. It was intended for agricultural use only.
So for 19 years you have been breaking the laws of this county and now you want all of us to feel sorry for you? It ain’t gonna happen!
Kay Obloy, Wailua Homesteads
