Renewable Energy Technology Assessments - Kauai Island Utility ...

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Kaua’i Island Utility Cooperative Renewable Energy Technology Assessments 7.0 Biomass and Municipal Solid Waste transmission, fuel delivery and others. Conducting preliminary siting studies will identify promising candidate sites and allow a headstart in securing land access, permitting and fuel supply. When a list of the most likely sites is developed, more detailed studies can be conducted to determine which site is best suited for project development. 7.8.4 Letter of Intent for Fuel Supply Completion of the previous three tasks will enable KIUC to begin negotiations for fuel supply. The first step is to secure a commitment by potential fuel suppliers to provide a consistent stream of fuel that can be the basis for further project design. Without LOIs for fuel supply, the project concept cannot be further developed. 7.8.5 Permitting Review A permitting review will identify all of the permits required to construct and operate a new facility. It will also identify fatal flaws in the project concept arising from permitting issues. This low cost permitting activity will layout the road map for development of a new biomass or MSW power project. 7.8.6 Determination of Landfill Closure Date and Long Term Waste Disposal Strategy Specific to the MSW project option, it is critical to understand the planning and politics of the current landfill closure and construction of a new landfill. An MSW project needs to be proposed and added to the list of engineering options for waste disposal before the community decides that building a new landfill is the only option available. The economics of an MSW project are competitive if the tipping fee is high enough. 7.8.7 Feasibility Study and Conceptual Design A feasibility study would incorporate all of the previous tasks into a thorough opinion of the viability of a biomass or MSW plant. Detailed analysis or technical and economic issues would be performed and documented in the study. If a project were determined to be feasible, a conceptual design phase would be performed to determine the basis for major systems including fuel handling, boiler, steam turbine, heat rejection and emission controls. More accurate opinions of cost and plant performance would be developed from this conceptual design to validate the findings of the feasibility study prior to detailed design and further project development efforts. 21 March 2005 7-24 Black & Veatch

Kaua’i Island Utility Cooperative Renewable Energy Technology Assessments 8.0 Hydro 8.0 Hydro Hydroelectric power captures the kinetic energy of water as it moves from a high elevation to a lower elevation by passing it through a turbine. The amount of kinetic energy captured by a turbine is dependent on the head (distance the water is falling) and the flow rate of the water. Hydropower is typically associated with capturing energy in natural watercourses as they flow towards the sea. However, other creative schemes, such as pumped storage using saltwater and capturing groundwater have been proposed, even on Kauai. One scheme proposed in the 1940’s considered diverting water trapped in Kauai’s basalts for hydropower generation. 70 Often, water is raised to a higher potential energy by blocking its natural flow with a dam. Projects that store large amounts of water behind a dam regulate the release of the water through turbines over time and generate electricity regardless of the season. These facilities are generally base loaded. Pumped storage hydro plants pump water from a lower reservoir to a reservoir at a higher elevation where it is stored for release during peak electrical demand periods. Another method of capturing the kinetic energy is to divert the water out of the natural or artificial waterway, through a penstock and back to the waterway. Such “runof-river” or “run-of-ditch” applications allow for hydroelectric generation without the impact of damming the waterway. Often resources of adjacent drainage basins are diverted to increase the total flow, and thus power production. The existing worldwide installed capacity for hydroelectric power is by far the largest source of renewable energy at 740,000 MW. However, for reasons discussed later in this section, many environmental groups object to the broad definition of hydroelectric resources as renewable. Numerous classification systems for hydro have developed in an attempt to distinguish “renewable” projects. Generally this distinction is based on size, although “low-impact,” low-head, and run-of-river plants are also often labeled renewable. Size classifications for smaller hydro systems include: • Micro - up to 100 kW • Mini - 100 kW to 1.5 MW • Small - 1.5 MW to 30 MW Because of the limited geographic extent and population base on Kauai, all existing and proposed hydroelectric projects fall into these three categories. 70 Orion Engineering, Inc., Wainiha Hydroelectric Project Environmental Impact Statement, Volume II, prepared for McBryde Sugar Company, August 1983, p. 127. 21 March 2005 8-1 Black & Veatch

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