Diverse group to help HECO shape 20-year energy plan
By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer
Hawaiian Electric Co. has put together an advisory group that includes friends and foes of O'ahu's primary power provider to help develop a Public Utilities Commission-mandated Integrated Resource Plan that will be used as an energy road map for the next 20 years.
• What: First official meeting of new HECO advisory group • When: 8 a.m. tomorrow • Where: On the eighth floor of Pacific Tower, 1001 Bishop St. The meeting will be open to the public.
The 35-member advisory group will meet over the next 15 months and discuss a wide range of energy topics such as building transmission lines and power plants, distributed generation, evaluation of risks from oil spills and national security concerns.
First meeting
Members include University of Hawai'i professors, government officials, environmental activists and HECO employees.
Henry Curtis, executive director of Life of the Land, is a member of the advisory group and said the PUC framework states that the advisory group should represent "as broad a spectrum of interests as possible, subject to the limitation that the interests represented should not be so numerous as to make deliberations as a group unwieldy."
Curtis said the advisory group could help shape the future of power use and planning on O'ahu.
"I am cautiously optimistic that the public will have some influence at the new PUC," he said.
The Public Utilities Commission is a state agency that regulates all public service companies operating in Hawai'i, sets rates and fees, issues guidelines concerning the general management of utility businesses, and acts on requests for the acquisition and sale of utility properties, including mergers and consolidations.
Hawaiian Electric spokesman Chuck Freedman said this is the third time the utility is putting together an Integrated Resource Plan since 1994. The plans cover a 20-year period with a five-year implementation period, and the PUC has asked the utility to update its plan covering 2006-25 by Oct. 31, 2005.
Freedman said this advisory group has the most diverse membership ever assembled for the process.
"They will be making recommendations and suggestions and really investigating the possibilities for the mix of resources that Hawaiian Electric can use for our electrical energy future," Freedman said.
"It's deep thinking. It's complex. There isn't a single magical solution to our energy needs. Hopefully, there will be better ideas offered because we have such a broad group of people."
The group will be broken down into committees and working groups to closely examine specific topics and come up with guidelines that HECO will use to develop its long-range plans.
"The goal is to find the best mix of resources for meeting the near- and long-term energy needs of the people of Honolulu," Freedman said. "That means both the more traditional view of how power is generated and demand-side management and evolving technology. It is really about a mix. Not one single energy choice that is the best — it's a combination that will give us a preferred energy future that is right for this island."
Reach James Gonser at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2431.
