By TOM CALLIS
Tribune-Herald staff writer
The site of the Big Island’s first geothermal power project may once again be put back to use.
The Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority, which is in charge of the small four-acre site in Pahoa left unused for nearly two decades, doesn’t want to see it lay dormant for much longer, said Executive Director Greg Barbour.
Once it gets a new lease, Barbour said the state agency plans to seek proposals for some sort of geothermal-related use of the property.
That could include pretty much anything, he said, from using the site to tap into excess heat and energy from the adjacent Puna Geothermal Venture power plant or even once again putting its single geothermal well back into production.
Barbour said the latter is unlikely since the well, fully capped in 1999, never produced enough electricity to be commercially viable. But, he said, the agency, which is charged with developing renewable forms of energy, is leaving all options on the table.
“We’re not trying to re-tap the well, but we are not saying that couldn’t happen,” Barbour said.
“We’re pretty open as long as it fits our mission.”
The state Department of Land and Natural Resources owns the land.
Today, its board will consider approving a new 65-year lease to the laboratory, based in Kailua-Kona. The lease expires in 2014.
But a decision could be delayed.
Hawaii County Council Chairman Dominic Yagong wrote a letter to the board on Thursday requesting the issue be deferred so that the lab can present its plans, or at least what it would like to see done with the property, to the council.
Deborah Ward, DLNR spokeswoman, said the board will discuss the request today.
Yagong said he supports new uses of the property but added that he wants the public to be properly informed.
Opposition to geothermal power has resurfaced recently after Hawaii Electric Light Co. announced its intent to have a second geothermal plant built on the island.
On Tuesday, the council held a meeting in Pahoa attended by more than 300 people, who were mostly against geothermal power because of concerns over the risk of well blowouts and leaks.
“We want to make sure that we have an opportunity to address these concerns or rumors so people understand what the plans are,” Yagong said.
The lab’s site hosted a geothermal power demonstration project throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. It produced 3 megawatts of electricity.
PGV’s plant can produce up to 30 megawatts.
Palikapu Dedman, president of Pele Defense Fund, which opposes geothermal power, said he thinks former demonstration site should be left as it is.
“They just should allow it to rest,” he said. “If they mess with it, it should have the public involved in the process.”
Barbour said any proposals considered by the agency will be discussed openly with the public.
“Anything we do we would make sure we follow all the rules and that there be adequate public input,” he said.
“Just getting a lease is not the end of it for us.”
Barbour also said that public health and safety will be a priority.
“We’re a green economic development project,” he said. “So we are all about being environmentally friendly.”
Email Tom Callis at tcallis@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
