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.
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PARADISE, CA - The intentional blackout by California’s largest utility this week put Forest Jones out of work and his son out of school. On Friday morning Mr. Jones, a handyman and single father, sat in his apartment above a tattoo parlor waiting for the power to come back on and for school to reopen.
“I’ll probably lose $400 or $500 dollars because of this,” said Mr. Jones, who lives in the town of Paradise, which was razed by fire last year and is slowly rebuilding. “Things have been really tough up here.”
Millions of people were affected by the blackout, which…
