Puna residents will get another chance to weigh in on a plan to boost Puna Geothermal Venture’s energy output.
A draft environmental impact statement for PGV’s “repower” project was published on Thursday, outlining a plan to boost the facility’s power production to 46 megawatts while reducing its footprint using more efficient machinery.
Mike Kaleikini, PGV’s senior director, Hawaii affairs, said Tuesday that the project ultimately will decommission the facility’s 12 existing energy converters with three new converters.
“The equipment is more modern, and the bottom line is that it will use the same amount of geothermal resource to generate more power,” Kaleikini said.
According to the impact statement, the three new converters will draw roughly 3 million gallons of geothermal resource per day to produce a net 46 megawatts of power.
By comparison, in 2018 before the Kilauea eruption, PGV drew 6 million gallons to generate 36 megawatts daily, although because of the damage caused by that eruption, the facility currently generates roughly 24.2 megawatts.
Kaleikini said the existing infrastructure will be decommissioned after the installation of the new converters, which he said should be completed by the end of 2025.
Under the terms of the power purchasing agreement between PGV and Hawaiian Electric, PGV will have 36 months to complete construction after the completion of final environmental reviews, which Kaleikini said could happen before the end of 2023.
The impact statement also includes a proposed phase 2 of the project, which would install a fourth converter that would generate an additional 15.3 megawatts, bringing the facility’s total capacity to about 60 megawatts. However, Kaleikini said that second phase has no firm timeframe.
“There’s nothing in the works for phase 2 yet,” Kaleikini said. “The power purchasing agreement is only for another eight megawatts, but we figured we may as well do an impact statement for a fourth converter at the same time.”
The impact statement anticipates that the project would generate no “unavoidable adverse environmental impacts” as the repowering will actually decrease the facility’s footprint — although the actual boundaries of PGV will remain the same.
Kaleikini acknowledged that the construction likely will bring a certain amount of additional noise and air emissions, but added that work will be conducted during the day time, and that the modern equipment, when installed, should be less noisy and emissive than the current machines.
The impact statement also includes public testimony submitted during a public scoping meeting held last August, wherein residents weighed in about the project. Much of that testimony was supportive of the repowering, but several people expressed distrust or skepticism about PGV’s safety and transparency.
Resident and former Puna Councilwoman Eileen O’Hara, writing for community activist group Malama O Puna, wrote that “PGV has not always been a good neighbor,” in particular noting the 2014 uncontrolled release of hydrogen sulfide from PGV following Tropical Storm Iselle.
“We have always been of the opinion that placing a geothermal plant so close to neighboring communities was a bad idea to begin with and for the people living around PGV this has proven to be the case,” O’Hara wrote.
“Now, after the lava flow, the situation has worsened. There is nothing between the plant and the neighboring communities allowing gasses to travel faster and noise pollution to be much greater.
The communities around PGV have a much larger population than they did when PGV was first built so the risk of harm has increased.”
With the draft impact statement published Monday, a 45-day public comment period will last until June 22. Kaleikini said PGV will host a public meeting about the project on June 1 at the Pahoa Community Center from 4:30 – 7:30 p.m.
The impact statement can be read at tinyurl.com/4hvheanc. Comments can be sent to planning@hawaiicounty.gov and copied to mkaleikini@ormat.com and michele.lefebvre@stantecgs.com.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.