HB872

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	872
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING TO RENEWABLE ENERGY.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. Act 102, Session Laws of Hawaii 2002 (Act 102), relating to leasing of public lands for renewable energy purposes, authorized the board of land and natural resources to lease public lands to renewable energy producers through direct negotiation. The intent of Act 102 was to encourage the development of renewable energy projects and to reduce the State's dependency on fossil fuels.

Act 95, Session Laws of Hawaii 2004 (Act 95), relating to renewable energy, required electric utilities to meet a renewable portfolio standard of fifteen per cent for 2015 and a goal of twenty per cent for 2020. Act 95 also included seawater air conditioning district cooling systems in the definition of renewable energy technologies.

With the addition of seawater air conditioning district cooling systems to the definition of renewable energy, the legislature recognized and codified an important precedent and principal established by solar water heating, that the displacement of electrical use by thermal applications of renewable energy technologies is just as important as electricity generation from renewable resources.

Accordingly, the legislature finds that, as a renewable energy producer, a seawater air conditioning system developer should be allowed to lease public lands through direct negotiation.

Also, easements that are required for chilled water and seawater distribution systems for seawater air conditioning district cooling systems can only be obtained by public auction. Seawater air conditioning developers must conduct extensive and costly preliminary work to identify, evaluate, and obtain easements for chilled water and seawater distribution systems. It would be beneficial for them to have a more expeditious and cost-effective way to obtain a necessary easement.

Accordingly, the legislature finds that a seawater air conditioning system developer should be allowed to obtain a county easement through direct negotiation and without public auction.

The purpose of this Act is to:

(1) Amend the definition of "renewable energy producer" to include producers of thermal energy from renewable energy resources, including those who produce cooling from seawater air conditioning district cooling systems, so that they will be eligible for leases of public land; and

(2) Allow each county to grant, sell, or otherwise dispose of easements for chilled water and seawater distribution systems for renewable energy seawater air conditioning district cooling systems by negotiation without public auction.

SECTION 2. Section 171-95, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (c) to read as follows:

"(c) For the purposes of this section, "renewable energy producer" means any producer of electrical or thermal energy produced by wind, solar energy, hydropower, landfill gas, waste-to-energy, ocean thermal energy conversion, cold seawater, wave energy, biomass including municipal solid waste, biofuels or fuels derived from organic sources, hydrogen fuels derived primarily from renewable energy, or fuel cells where the fuel is derived primarily from renewable sources that sell all of the net power produced from the demised premises to an electric utility company regulated under chapter 269[.] or that sells all of the thermal energy it produces to customers of district cooling systems. Up to twenty-five per cent of the power produced by a renewable energy producer and sold to the utility or to district cooling system customers may be derived from fossil fuels."

SECTION 3. Section 46-66, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"[[]§46-66[]] Disposition of real property. Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, each county, subject to the approval of the council, may grant, sell, or otherwise dispose of any easement, including easements over, under, through, and across land bordering the ocean, at public auction; provided that any easement for any governmental or public utility purpose or for chilled water and seawater distribution systems for renewable energy seawater air conditioning district cooling systems may be granted, sold, or otherwise disposed of by negotiation without public auction."

SECTION 4. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________