This week, the last traces of ash and greenhouse gases from Hawaii’s last surviving coal-fired power plant were released into the atmosphere when the state’s dirtiest source of energy burnt its last bits of fuel.
The last supply of coal to the islands came at the end of July, and AES Corporation’s coal plant shut down Thursday after 30 years of operation. Up to one-fifth of the power on Oahu, the most populated island in a state with almost 1.5 million inhabitants, was generated by this plant.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Hawaii’s governor, David Ige, said, “It is really about decreasing greenhouse emissions.” “In addition, this coal factory is among the major emitters. Taking it down would save the yearly emission of 1.5 million metric tons of greenhouse emissions.”
As with other Pacific island chains, the Hawaiian islands have seen the cascading effects of climate change. The state is suffering the devastation of coral reefs due to bleaching, which is caused by rising ocean temperatures, a fast rise in sea level, more powerful storms, and dryness, which increases the state’s wildfire danger.
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Hawaii’s legislature approved a bill in 2020 prohibiting the use of coal for electricity generation beginning in 2023. Hawaii has required a transition to 100 percent renewable energy by 2045, becoming the first state to do so.
Good decision, poor timing
Critics, however, argue that although eliminating the state’s dirtiest energy source is eventually a desirable idea, doing so now is not. Renewable alternatives intended to replace coal energy are not yet operational due to permission delays, contract concerns, and supply-chain issues connected to pandemics. Therefore, the state will burn oil that is more expensive and just marginally less harmful than coal.
“If you think climate change will cease because we shut down this coal plant, this is your lucky day,” Democratic state Sen. Glenn Wakai, head of the Committee on Economic Development, Tourism, and Technology, stated. “However, if you pay your power bill, it is a terrible day for you.”
The elimination of coal and the rise in oil prices would result in a 7% increase in power rates for customers who already pay the highest energy and living expenditures in the country.
“We are shifting from the least costly fossil fuel to the most expensive fossil fuel,” Wakai said. And we will be susceptible to geopolitical challenges over the price and availability of oil.
Windmills and solar panels are shown at Kahuku, which is located on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. This week, with the shutting of the AES coal plant, Hawaii becomes the first state to adopt a complete coal prohibition. AP Image: Caleb Jones
First state to enact a complete ban on coal
According to statistics from Worldwide Energy Monitor, a non-profit campaigning for a global transition to sustainable energy, Hawaii joins ten other states in having no large coal-fired power plants after the closing of the AES coal plant. Rhode Island and Vermont have never had coal-fired power facilities.
Although Hawaii is the first state to completely execute a ban on coal, a few others have approved similar legislation. Oregon, the first state to enact a ban, will not implement its prohibition until 2035. Washington’s coal prohibition of 2020 begins in 2025. California, Maine, and Texas are among the states that have placed limitations on the building of new coal-fired power plants.
The greatest number of coal-burning units in the United States was about 1,100 in 2001. Since then, more over half have ceased operations, with the majority moving to more cost-effective natural gas.
Heavily reliant on petroleum
According to statistics from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, over two-thirds of Hawaii’s power in 2021 was produced by oil. This makes Hawaii the most reliant state on petroleum, notwithstanding its fast move to renewables.
Hawaii already derives around 40 percent of its electricity from renewable sources, such as wind, solar, hydropower, and geothermal.
State Senator and Senate Minority Leader Kurt Fevella, a Republican, stated that Hawaiian Electric Company and other energy companies should shoulder the increased expense of switching to renewables.
“It is untenable that Hawaii’s households are already reducing their energy consumption while yet paying the highest rates in the country for residential power,” said Fevella. While I think that utility companies like HECO can do more to alleviate the energy load on Hawaii’s ratepayers, I also feel that developers of renewable energy projects should shoulder a larger percentage of the transmission expenses.
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Hawaiian Electric Company, the state’s only power distributor, has said that it cannot significantly alter customer pricing.
Jim Kelly, vice president of Government and Community Relations and Corporate Communications, said, “We are a controlled monopoly.” “Therefore, we do not fix pricing. We do not profit from the fuels we utilize to create power.”
The operator of Hawaii’s final coal plant, AES, has converted to producing renewable energy and is constructing massive solar farms around the state, including one in West Oahu that will replace some lost coal electricity when it is finished next year.
“Renewables are becoming less expensive by the day,” said Leonardo Moreno, head of the sustainable energy branch of AES Corporation. “I envisage a world in which energy is very affordable, plentiful, and renewable.”
Let’s not wait a decade.
Experts in sustainable energy assert that eliminating coal is essential to halting climate change. While the present renewable environment is not ideal, the technologies are reportedly improving.
Makena Coffman, professor at the University of Hawaii and head of the Institute for Sustainability and Resilience, said, “This is the decade of climate action that we need to move on now.” Therefore, these technologies are accessible, and they may improve over the next decade, but let’s not wait that long.
According to Hawaii’s Chief Energy Officer Scott Glenn, the majority of the profits from the rise in energy bills for Hawaii residents would go to foreign oil companies.
Par Pacific, a Houston-based corporation that has historically obtained the state’s oil from Libya and Russia, distributes Hawaii’s petroleum. However, during the invasion of Ukraine, Hawaii ceased oil exports from Russia and substituted shipments from Argentina.
Extending the operation of the coal plant would have been difficult and expensive, according to Glenn, who noted that the facility had been preparing its closure for years and would now have to purchase coal at market pricing.
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“Coal is increasing. It is becoming more costly “He remarked of the supplies Hawaii receives from Indonesia’s deforested jungles. If we used American coal, it would not be the least expensive electricity source on the system.
Why would Hawaii, a tiny U.S. state in the midst of the Pacific, attempt to be a leader in the transition to renewable energy?
Glenn said, “We are already seeing the consequences of climate change.” “It is not fair nor proper to expect other countries or governments to intervene on our behalf if we are unwilling or incapable of doing it ourselves. If we don’t, we drown.”
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