Have you noticed how fast we forget things? Sometimes, it's helpful to look back and see what we missed, and what we may want to reconsider.

For example, some renewable energy projects we roundly trounced in the past are getting resurrected as the price of oil drills holes in our world.

GEOTHERMAL ON BIG ISLE

Don Thomas is a volcanologist at the University of Hawai'i. He's an expert in geothermal energy. Last week, at the Hawaii Venture Capital Association Energy Series, he talked about the pioneering efforts in geothermal in the '70s and '80s, and how it all came apart in the '90s.

When the state and the U.S. Department of Energy began a joint geothermal project in 1993, the Sierra Club sued. The DOE undertook an EIS, but after spending $5 million, it gave up and agreed to a consent decree to end research. You'd think geothermal was done forever.

Not so. Today, there's a geothermal plant in Puna that quietly delivers 30 megawatts to HECO. They do this with a minimum of steam release and noise, a low profile and careful attention to community sentiment. It's Puna Geothermal Venture, owned by Ormat, a global company good at what it does and more careful than its predecessors in Puna.

Ormat is working on expanding its output by another 8 megawatts. The plan after that is to add 22 more megawatts, for a total of 60. HECO would be willing to buy that much since geothermal is treated as both renewable and firm (reliable), but HECO cannot allow any one facility to be so big that when it fails it brings down the system. So for now, 60 megawatts is about all HECO feels it could take from this location.

The bottom line is geothermal has been resurrected on the Big Island and the Puna Geothermal Venture is an active part of the grid. Local resistance is not over, but people have apparently gotten used to renewables, and hopefully the planned expansion can be achieved without a community reaction. There's cause for optimism.

WIND POWER ON O'AHU

O'ahu has also had its troubles. In 2005, HECO determined that it could put a line of wind turbines on the ridge over its Kahe Point plant and generate an additional 39 megawatts within easy reach of the existing infrastructure. Sound like a really good idea? Think again.

HECO monitored the strength, direction and turbulence of the wind and confirmed that this area had O'ahu's best winds. HECO proposed up to 26 wind turbines capable of generating up to 39 megawatts, enough to service 15,000 homes on O'ahu.

HECO got permission to do these tests from community and Hawaiian cultural leaders on condition that it report its findings. In July 2005, it reported its findings at three community meetings. These meetings were a mixed bag, with some members of the community vociferously opposed to the facility. The objections boiled down to NIMBY and sense of place.

In September 2005, Mayor Hannemann terminated the project in a telling grandstand. Although no permit application had been filed, he told HECO he would never allow a permit for this project. Forget due process. This was a tragic end for 39 megawatts of renewable at Kahe.

But it's not the end of the story — there's still hope for wind on O'ahu.

Although the wind at Kahuku is not as good, First Wind (formerly UPC Wind, developer of the successful Kaheawa wind farm on Maui) has purchased 500 acres near the site of an earlier wind farm in Kahuku, and is testing wind and community relations there in hopes of building a new 30 megawatt facility with 12 wind turbines.

Peter Rosegg of HECO says, "we are pretty far along on PPA (power purchase agreement) discussions with First Wind, and something could be submitted to the PUC as early as the end of August." With a power purchase agreement, First Wind will be able to get venture capital and bank loans because it's a guaranteed sale. This all sounds pretty good.

HECO is also looking for other wind and solar renewables on O'ahu. It put out a request for proposal for another 100 megawatts of renewables on O'ahu, and proposals are due by Sept. 1. O'ahu's capacity is 1,700 megawatts, so 100 megawatts would be a substantial piece of the pie. There's cause for optimism here too, so stay tuned.

YOU'RE ALWAYS IN SOMEBODY'S BACKYARD

Maybe you were expecting another debacle? Check the price of gas and electricity too — they've doubled while you watch. Those who might have opposed these renewable projects on a knee-jerk basis before seem more understanding now. The times, perhaps they are a-changin.

That doesn't mean it's easy to develop renewables in Hawai'i. Everyone knows it's more costly, delay-ridden and risky to do business here than other places. The Superferry scenario has made things seriously worse — investors are terrified about what might happen.

But even with all that, the Ormat and First Wind projects demonstrate that renewable developments are possible. They seem to have gotten it right — you have to be exquisitely careful not to run roughshod over the community. If you blow it, likelihood is your project's toast.

Hawai'i's backyard is shrinking. As the population of an area or an island increases, you find you're always in someone's backyard. This means developers need to be more careful, but it also means that community and environmental groups need to be more tolerant.

Like it or not, we have to go to renewables and we need to make way for them. If we lose our energy entrepreneurs and investors, we simply won't have renewables in Hawai'i, and then we'll all pay a terrible price.

Jay Fidell is a business lawyer practicing in Honolulu. He has followed tech and tech policy closely and is a founder of ThinkTech Hawaii. Read his blog at www.HonoluluAdvertiser.com/Blogs