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Hawaii regulators asked to approve Ormat for 25 MW project

Hawaii regulators asked to approve Ormat for 25 MW project Puna Geothermal Power Plant, Big Island, Hawaii (source: betterplace.com)
Alexander Richter 26 May 2015

BPC recommends the approval of Ormat's project since it meets the threshold for the price for electricity at 12 cents per kilowatt hour.

Last February, Ormat was selected to build a new 25MW geothermal power plant on Big Island in Hawaii. Now, and according lo local sources, Boston Pacific Co. (BPC), the company that monitors the bid process for the project “is recommending Hawaii regulators approve the selection.”

Pacific Business News states that “Boston Pacific said in a letter this month to the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission that the state agency should approve Ormat’s Moana Geothermal project because its bid was able to meet the threshold price of 12 cents per kilowatt hour. Boston Pacific also noted that out of the two bids that met the threshold price, Moana Geothermal had the highest overall score based on the request for proposals’ methodology for price and non-price criteria.”

Approval by regulators is needed to move the project forward.

Geothermal projects usually take long periods of time to reach the development phase and the Moana Geothermal project is no stranger to delays since “the lengthy process of selecting a geothermal developer for the project began in 2012, and the project started out as a 50-megawatt facility planned for the eastside of the island.”

Improvements for faster and easier development are in dire need in and indsutry that already has significant barriers.

To read the full article, please follow the link.

Source: Pacific Business News