Maui County is on track to be generating all of its energy from renewable sources within the next two years, according to Maui County Energy Commissioner Doug McLeod. And it could be producing significantly more than it needs if a series of deals in the works comes together.
The Big Island consistently has said it plans to be energy self-sufficient, and Kauai also is working to increase the amount of energy it generates from renewable sources. But only Maui County is talking about generating a surplus, and these plans could find a way to help defuse the tension currently surrounding the controversial Big Wind project, which proposes to build wind farms on Lanai and Molokai.
If Maui County succeeds, officials say they would be willing to find ways to supply energy-starved Oahu with the new, and perhaps more politically palatable, sources of renewable energy.
“There is no specific plan to get us to 100 percent, but there is a general desire,” McLeod told PBN. “We got to this point just on wind, and once all these wind farms come online we are majority of renewable all the time.”
At its peak, Maui County currently uses more than 200 megawatts of energy a day. But during most of the day, its usage can go as low as 80 megawatts, McLeod said. In the next 24 months, Maui County will have enough projects in the works to be producing nearly 100 megawatts a day. Beyond that, Maui County is in talks with Korean and European companies to make hydrogen from solar, according to McLeod, who says it also has a proposal from Pennsylvania-based Air Products and Chemicals to convert wind power to hydrogen. The amount of energy that could be generated from these projects was not immediately available, but it is expected to be significant.