Dollars and Sense

Abandoned Big Island Project

Two years ago, the State (DBEDT) estimated that the interisland cable would cost taxpayers and/or ratepayers $1,000,000,000 (one BILLION dollars.) Castle & Cooke and First Wind have estimated that their components of this project would cost from $750,000,000 to $1,000,000,000 ON EACH ISLAND. Today, some estimate the costs to be double that original estimate.

The total costs for this project, estimated two years ago before a single shovel touched a piece of Hawaiian soil, equals $2,300 for EVERY HAWAII RESIDENT.

Assuming an average cost of $40,000 for installing photovoltaic panels on the average Hawaii house, $3 billion dollars could cover 75,000 homes (about 1/5 of Oahu’s total) thereby saving about 400,000 barrels of imported oil every year. Or, every household on Oahu (400,000) could have solar hot water, saving about 525,000 barrels of imported oil every year.

Using the publicly announced figures for the recently approved Kahuku wind farm, were Castle & Cooke to build all 400 MW of wind-generated power, David Murdock’s privately held, California-based company’s annual revenue — for selling the wind — would exceed $250 million dollars.