KIUC Linemen All Geared Up - Kauai Island Utility Cooperative

40 KIUC CURRENTS
By Anne Barnes
KIUC BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Taking It on the Road
KIUC hosts four Quarterly Update meetings
across the island
In rolling out the second­quarter update, CEO
David Bissell, new Chief of Operations Mike
Yamane and Communications Specialist Maile
Moriguchi delivered a positive message about
managing the cost of energy, reducing
dependence on fossil fuels, the arrival of new
technologies to serve you better and how KIUC is
using social media to make KIUC’s
communications more interactive.
Bissell began with a review of KIUC’s portfolio
approach to renewable development, which
includes biomass, hydroelectricity, photovoltaics
and battery energy storage systems (BESS).
“It is likely by next year KIUC will have the
highest per capita solar penetration in the United
States,” Bissell said.
With tax incentives still available, fast
completion times and 10 megawatts currently
installed or under contract, KIUC is picking up
speed on the PV front. In addition, the first 1.5­
MW utility­scale battery storage system will be
online in the third quarter and will help mitigate
the effects of a 3­MW PV project that will also
feed into Koloa.
Citing Green Energy’s 6.7­MW project
scheduled to be online in 2013, and additional
power purchase agreements pending, Bissell said
biomass remains a viable piece of KIUC’s portfolio,
with a very real potential to deliver 7 to 20 MW of
firm power.
With 20 to 40 MWs of hydroelectric potential
on Kaua‘i, KIUC continues to work on this legacy
project. While hydropower remains capital
intensive, there is no fuel cost associated with it,
so it provides potentially the lowest cost of power.
“We will continue to study sites and water
resources, participate in landowner and agency
discussions, and consider alternatives for greater
stakeholder involvement,” Bissell said.
He stressed that while it is less talked about,
efficiency and technology are an essential
component of KIUC’s strategy, leading into
Yamane’s discussion on smart grid.
If you are a regular reader, you know that In
November 2009, KIUC and 26 other electric
cooperatives from 10 states were awarded a $33.9
million matching grant from the U.S. Department of
Energy under the American Reinvestment and