GEOTHERMAL IS A RED-HOT TOPIC€¦ · 30/04/2013 · believe that it would be sacrilege to drill...
Transcript of GEOTHERMAL IS A RED-HOT TOPIC€¦ · 30/04/2013 · believe that it would be sacrilege to drill...
GEOTHERMAL IS A RED-HOT TOPIC
Many people in Hawaii think geothermal electricity is a great renewable-energy idea, unless you
happen to live in Puna, the epicenter of both geothermal and the opposition to it. Pictured
above: Puna Geothermal Venture in Hawai’i courtesy Hawaiian Electric
John Stickler November, 2013 Hawaii Business
Some things are almost impossible to oppose: Mom, apple pie and renewable
energy. After all, renewable energy promises independence from world oil
prices, fewer greenhouse gases and, possibly, lower prices. For many people
in Hawaii, geothermal perfectly fulfills that promise – energy that is
relatively cheap, plentiful and always on. For others, especially people living
close to the existing geothermal energy site in the Puna District of Hawaii
Island, geothermal energy is not a promise but a threat – a dangerous
experiment that could injure and kill.
This year is the centennial of the world’s first geothermal-generated
electricity, which occurred in Italy. Today, geothermal electricity is produced
in eight U.S. states and 23 foreign countries, according to the Geothermal
Energy Association. Nearly 40 more countries have projects at some stage of
development. Advocates say decades of global experience undeniably prove
the value of geothermal power. However, opponents say Hawaii’s unique
situation defies easy comparisons with other locations.
The local debate has heated up this year for two reasons. One was a blowout
of toxic gas in March, the first significant incident in Puna in 22 years and
one that renewed opponents’ resistance to geothermal. The other reason is
that Hawaii Island’s power utility, the Hawaii Electric Light Co., is ready to
more than double its use of geothermal power. HELCO asked for and
received six confidential proposals to provide up to 50 additional megawatts
of geothermal power to its islandwide transmission grid. HELCO’s current
peak demand is less than 200 mw, so new and existing geothermal generation
could combine to supply almost half of the Island’s peak energy needs.
“Moving forward on geothermal is important to Hawaii Island because we
want to increase our use of renewable energy and bring down costs for our
customers, while also ensuring reliable service,” says HELCO president Jay
Ignacio. “At the same time we’re pursuing bidders who are committed to
thoroughly addressing environ-mental, community and cultural concerns.”
The Puna district already supplies HELCO with 38 mw of power, thanks to
the generating plant run by Puna Geothermal Ventures. PGV has been
tapping superhot brine deep beneath the surface since 1993, using its steam to
run turbines and feeding the resulting power to the grid. The long-term plans
are ambitious. Many people statewide think that, in time, it would be a great
idea to lay an underwater cable so other islands could share electricity
generated by Hawaii Island’s vast geothermal resources.
The Native Hawaiian community is divided on the issue. Some Hawaiians
believe that it would be sacrilege to drill into and extract energy from Mauna
Loa, home of the volcano goddess Pele and one of the world’s most active
volcanoes.
Above: Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of fire, volcanoes and the creator of the Hawaian Islands.
Painting by Herb Kane
“What do you think drilling is? There is no ‘small’ rape – rape is rape! There
is no such thing as ‘clean’ geothermal,” exclaimed Palikapu Dedman,
founder of the Pele Defense Fund, at a rally in July in Pahoa, less than four
miles from the site of PGV’s plant.
Other Hawaiians, such as Pat Kahawaiolaa, say the free energy from the earth
is a gift from the goddess and we should be grateful for her bounty. “This
island could run on geothermal easily. To me, geothermal is a no-brainer,”
says the retired postal worker, who was appointed by the state to the
Geothermal Working Group.
His view is echoed by the Innovations Development Group, a company that
says it is mostly owned by Native Hawaiians and wants to harness
geothermal energy in a sustainable way while preserving cultural traditions.
IDG helped the Maori people in New Zealand to develop geothermal energy
under the premise that all natural resources belonged to them before
European colonists arrived, and they should receive some of the benefits
from new developments.
IDG calls it a native-to-native business model and now seeks to apply the
same principle in Hawaii. The company recently received a $600,000
investment from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and leased a 400-acre parcel
in Puna.
Although HELCO’s request for proposals forbids IDG from confirming it,
it’s a safe bet that IDG is one of HELCO’s geothermal bidders.
Global History
The first geothermal power plant in New Zealand opened in 1958 and
geothermal now supplies about 10 percent of the nation’s electricity,
according to the New Zealand Geothermal Association.
Geothermal has an even longer history in Iceland, where legend has it that
people first used geothermal heat 1,000 years ago to warm their homes and
bathed in the hot water. But it wasn’t until the first oil-price shock of the
1970s that Iceland used geothermal heat to generate electricity. Today, the
National Energy Authority says, 30 percent of Iceland’s electricity is
produced by geothermal sources and most of the rest comes from
hydroelectric dams.
Iceland has abundant geothermal energy because it lies on a crack in the
Earth’s crust where the North American and Eurasian plates are pulling apart.
That makes it very different from the volcanic geothermal energy that lies
beneath Hawaii Island, which is generated by a volcanic hotspot, not shifting
continental plates. New Zealand, with both active and dormant volcanoes, is
a better comparison with Hawaii’s situation.
Proponents of geothermal development in Hawaii also often point to
California, where power has been safely generated with underground steam
sources since 1960. Comparison is tricky. Hawaii has one well; it is hot and
toxic. California has scores of wells and they vary from hot to “cold” (below
212 degrees Fahrenheit). Compare Puna with the town of Calistoga in Napa
County where mineral-rich water is tapped, cooled and bottled as a health
tonic.
Facilities found in populated areas are primarily low temperature and
therefore less toxic.
California wells produce both steam and hot water (the hotter the water the
more contaminants are leached from the bedrock) and gases. Naturally
occurring pollutants in both states and other geothermal sites worldwide
include heavy metals, ammonia, sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide.
Hydrogen sulfide, or H2S, is the main fear of Puna residents: It is invisible,
smells like rotten eggs and works like carbon monoxide or cyanide gas on the
human respiratory system. That means prolonged exposure or high levels can
kill you.
From 1982 to 1999, there were 38 documented leaks, repairs and Civil
Defense emergencies from either the original, experimental, government-
sponsored, three-megawatt plant, named Hawaii Geothermal Project – A, and
Puna Geothermal Venture’s subsequent 38 mw generating facility. HGP-A
closed in 1989.
40 years of study
University of Hawaii geochemist Don Thomas was on the job when HGP-A
was drilled in Puna in 1976 next door to where the PGV facility now stands.
He spent more than a dozen years testing and monitoring the hot mix jetting
up the pipe from more than a mile deep. After 40 years of researching
Hawaii’s geothermal re-sources, if anyone knows what Pele’s gift is
comprised of, it’s Don Thomas. He dismisses the current anti-drilling
activism as “a longstanding disinformation campaign.” After all, he points
out, HELCO’s Kanoelehua-Hill plant, which burns oil to generate electricity,
“dumps 500 pounds of sulfur dioxide – a no less environmentally and
physiologically damaging compound – into the atmosphere every hour.”
As for hydrogen sulfide, he reminded me that OSHA safety rules allow well
workers to remain in an atmosphere of 10 parts per million for an eight-hour
day, five days a week. Further, occasional spikes of 15 parts per million are
authorized for up to 15 minutes, the major risk being eye irritation.
Geothermal plants are not the only thing harnessing the underground warmth and energy of
Hawaii’s magma. Ahalanui Hot Pond, shown above, is a recreational area naturally heated by
Pele and is one of many hot ponds and hot springs on the Big Island. Photo by Donald
MacGowan
“When I was conducting analyses of geothermal steam samples, the air in my
lab consistently had five to 10 parts per million of H2S for hours at a stretch,”
he says. “High concentrations can be dangerous, and this compound, like any
other, needs to be treated with respect at those concentrations. Recent
research, however, has begun to show that lower levels of exposure to
hydrogen sulfide may actually be therapeutic.”
At the same time, Thomas recalls standing near the original well when steam
discharged at 300-400 degrees Fahrenheit with an H2S content of 800 ppm.
The worst geothermal incident occurred in 1991, when a pressure pipe
ruptured and vented 2,200 pounds of H2S into surrounding neighborhoods.
At least 75 Puna residents were evacuated from their homes for several days.
Geoff Last vividly remembers that incident.
“I have lived in Puna for 29 years and witnessed and experienced geothermal
energy,” says Last, now retired from his flower-growing business. “When I
first arrived here, I believed in geothermal – free, clean, green and wonderful.
The Department of Health allowed open venting and dumping of waste on
the ground. My son used to ride home on the school bus through clouds of
H2S and heavy metals and tell me about the smell and how he did not feel so
good. I was busy building my home and my flower business and still believed
in the Health Department and geothermal. Then the blowout in 1991: We
were told to leave our homes. I got educated.”
Last is a board member of the Puna Pono Alliance, a citizens’ group that
opposes more geothermal plants in the Puna District.
The 1991 leak was followed by 22 years with no major incidents from the
PGV plant before another blowout on March 13 of this year. One of the two
transmission lines to HELCO was down for repairs and the second one failed.
Before the turbines could be turned off, raw, toxic steam was released into
the PVG compound and the neighboring community.
A hazmat team and other emergency crews responded, but no one was
injured and no evacuation was ordered; the highest reading of H2S detected
outside the PGV site by the Hawaii County Fire Department was three parts
per million. County Civil Defense doesn’t order an evacuation unless the leak
is not contained and if sustained readings of at least 10 ppm are detected.
Mike Kaleikini, senior director of Hawaiian Affairs for Ormat Technologies,
the parent company of PGV, greeted me in July at his office on the PGV
compound. It is a low, wooden, prefab structure that can be moved in case of
seismic event or volcanic emergency. HELCO required that bids on the new
geothermal power generation be kept secret, so Kaleikini would neither
confirm nor deny if PGV was a bidder. But, in the past, Ormat has advocated
for geothermal expansion, so it seems likely that the company was among the
six bidders for the new project.
As we talked about the March 13 blowout, he asked, “Why is everyone so
excited about this event? We’ve had a number of leaks before.”
In the eyes of geothermal advocates, the blowout was a minor problem that
was quickly contained and posed no threat to residents. The system worked.
To opponents, the leak confirmed their suspicions that, despite 22 years of
improvements, geothermal technology was still not entirely safe. The system
doesn’t work.
Harry Kim
Another thing that has upset opponents is a move by the state Legislature to
eliminate their ability to fight geothermal through the county regulatory
process. They believe they have been robbed of their right to public input and
to present their health and safety concerns, and Harry Kim agrees with them,
even though he personally favors geothermal energy.
Kim became well known and well loved during his 16 years as civil defense
administrator for Hawaii County from 1984 to 2000. He understands the
concerns about geothermal power generation in Puna: At least 18 times
during his watch, civil defense teams were called out to monitor an H2S leak
or other emergency. He personally supervised the evacuation of downwind
homes during the 1991 blowout. “It was my job,” he tells me. Some people,
however, still criticize him for not shutting down the whole geothermal
operation when they say he had the chance.
His reputation was so strong among Hawaii Island’s people that they voted
him in as mayor in 2000 and then re-elected him in 2004. Fast forward to
Nov. 29, 2012: The soft-spoken politician, now in his 70s, had just lost his
bid to oust the incumbent mayor, Billy Kenoi. With his salt-and-pepper hair
and wearing a colorful aloha shirt, he addressed an audience in Pahoa
assembled by the Puna Pono Alliance to explain why he had run for office
again.
“I was a happily retired grandfather,” he related, but added that his relaxation
was interrupted by a disturbing phone call from a friend. “It was the first I’d
heard about Act 97.”
Protesters against the harnessing of geothermal energy line the streets of Hilo on the Big Island
of Hawai’i. Photo by Nate Gaddis.
That spring, the state Legislature had passed two new laws to expedite
development of alternative energies, a law which effectively repealed Act
296-83, which itself created six drilling “subzones” designed to restrict
exploratory operations within defined areas. Kim told the crowd that Act 97
removed all county authority to approve or deny applications for geothermal
drilling and power generation projects. The right of county home rule was
erased, he said. The second new law, Act 55, authority to authorize
exploration, had been transferred to a new entity, the Public Land
Development Corp., which also had power over other developments. Act 55
has since been repealed, though Act 97 remains in force.
“I approve of geothermal energy,” Kim told the crowd in Puna, “as long as it
respects the rights of the people. But Act 97 has no rules on where to drill, no
rules for a county permitting process. It took it all away. Act 97 must be
repealed. That is why I ran.”
Among the local residents in the audience was Russell Ruderman, the newly
elected state senator from Puna. That evening, Kim asked for his help at the
Legislature to overturn Act 97 and reinstate home rule. Early this year,
Ruderman introduced a bill to repeal Act 97 and Kim flew to Honolulu to
testify on its behalf.
Their efforts were in vain. “It was the worst day of my life,” Kim said after
the Legislature blocked the repeal effort. But Ruderman hasn’t given up. He
confirms that in the upcoming legislative session, he will introduce a bill to
amend Act 97 to restore county oversight over the permitting process for
geothermal projects.
As spelled out by the schedule in HELCO’s Geothermal Request for
Proposals, the six bids received by April 30, 2013, were to be evaluated and
the winners selected by the end of August 2013. But the winners were not
announced then and it may be March 2014 before HELCO announces which
company or companies are selected to complete the next phase of geothermal
energy generation.
Puna Concerns
Puna is the easternmost of Hawaii Island’s nine districts. On its own, it is
almost the size of Kauai, and is a mix of agricultural and residential
properties, with a few commercial and tourist locations, too. Those opposed
to geothermal don’t want new power plants in Puna or any industrial
development that might come with them.
Their list of concerns is long: health and safety questions; the vibrations and
noise of 12-hour-per-day drilling; potential pollution of groundwater;
construction traffic congestion on narrow and sometimes one-lane roads; new
overhead transmission lines and mandated easements through private
property; evacuation plans for schoolchildren and others; and more.
Two new areas of concern have recently been added.
Earthquakes have been a constant on the Big Island since Pele was born, but
now there are fears that underground “fracking” may intensify or even cause
earthquakes. To date, high-pressure fracturing of deep rock layers has been
primarily used for natural gas and oil development. But now the new
technology, called advanced or enhanced hydrolic fracturing, where cold
water is pumped down into hot rock formations to produce steam, is being
introduced at some geothermal developments (see sidebar on page 131 for
one case in Switzerland). Fracking has not previously been used in Hawaii,
but some opponents raise this concern: If the geological formations beneath
Puna are not porous enough for other geothermal methods, will the winning
bidders resort to fracking? As on the mainland, there are fears in Hawaii
about fracking, which some scientists believe may have triggered
earthquakes.
A bill to ban fracking passed Hawaii County Council on a 7-0 vote, with two
members absent, during first reading in October.
Puna Pono Alliance members also fear that new sources of electric power
could attract energy-intensive industries to the area. IDG, one of the likely
bidders on the new geothermal plant, is promoting its native-to-native
business model. “IDG intends to make ancillary steam available to create
low-cost power for small businesses and agriculture,” says an IDG ad.
Hawaii is the state most dependent on fossil fuels to generate electricity, so,
in 2008, the state government partnered with the federal Department of
Energy to establish the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative. The main goal: For
Hawaii to meet 70 percent of its energy needs by 2030 through energy
efficiency and renewable energy. With a combination of local solar, hydro,
wind and geothermal, Hawaii Island is already leading the way, with
renewables supplying more than 40 percent of its total electricity usage.
Another 50 megawatts of geothermal power would put Hawaii Island even
further ahead on renewable energy.
The key question is: Can Hawaii produce geothermal in a safe and healthy
way? To provide the last word on that subject, I turned to Jeff Mikulina, who
has both strong environmental and renewable-energy credentials. He’s the
former director of the Sierra Club’s Hawaii chapter and currently serves as
executive director of the Blue Planet Foundation, a nonprofit that advocates
for all forms of renewable energy.
“We are bullish on geothermal,” Mikulina says. “It is the largest alternative
resource in Hawaii. There are lessons to be learned from New Zealand, where
projects were handled respectfully.
“(In Hawaii) we should engage the community. At the same time,” he
cautions, “we must compare the relative impacts of burning oil versus the
potential impacts of geothermal projects.”
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