Big Island geothermal celebrates 15 years
HAWAII - Puna Geothermal Venture marked 15 years in business recently.
The company taps the might of Kilauea volcano to generate electricity, providing nearly one-fifth of the Big Island's power.
PGV is looking to increase production by eight megawatts of power. That would up the company's total capacity to 41 megawatts.
Lieutenant Governor James "Duke" Aiona says geothermal production fits with Hawaii's clean energy initiative. It calls for the state to knock down its fossil fuel consumption to 30 percent.
PGV's plant sells 30 megawatts of renewable energy to Hawaii Electric Light Company on a continuous basis. That provides nearly 20 percent of the Big Island's electricity needs.
Related News
How waves could power a clean energy future
NEW YORK - Waves off the coast of the U.S. could generate 2.64 trillion kilowatt hours of electricity per year — that’s about 64% of last year’s total utility-scale electricity generation in the U.S. We won’t need that much, but one day experts do hope that wave energy will comprise about 10-20% of our electricity mix.
“Wave power is really the last missing piece to help us to transition to 100% renewables, ” said Marcus Lehmann, co-founder and CEO of CalWave Power Technologies, one of a number of promising startups focused on building wave energy converters.
But while scientists have long understood…
