Michael Giberson
Just days after the company reportedly broke ground on their first plant in New Mexico, the Honolulu Advertiser reports that Jetstream Wind, Inc., has indicated plans to build another one of the “world’s first utility-scale, zero-emissions hydrogen power plants” at Molokai, Hawaii:
The Molokai plant, proposed by Jetstream Wind Inc., would use electricity from wind or solar or a combination of the two to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen would then be burned in a turbine – similar to what is used in a natural-gas-fired power plant – and would generate enough electricity to power 6,000 homes and businesses, the company said.
The company cannot disclose the exact location on Molokai for the plant because negotiations for the site are still under way, said Xavier Marquez, Jetstream Wind Inc. chief networking officer.
The company hopes to break ground in 30 to 60 days, Marquez said.
Yet, Hawaiian Electric Co. has not had any contact with the company about selling the power generated by its proposed new plant, said Peter Rosegg, HECO spokesman.
If Jetstream Wind is going to sell power to the utility on Molokai, it will need a Power Purchase Agreement with Maui Electric Co., said Maria Tome, Hawaii State Energy Office renewable transportation energy program manager. Maui Electric is a subsidiary of HECO.
Emphasis added. Odd that they would plan to build a “utility-scale” power plant, and yet not talk to the local utility. (Apparently, they haven’t talked to New Mexico electric utility PNM, either. Also odd.)
More from the story:
“We’re the first company that had the foresight to jump on creating a combinatory system and putting the pieces together to make it viable for the public and for electrical generation,” [Henry Herman, Jetstream Wind CEO] said.
“Basically it’s 8th-grade science scaled up very, very large,” Herman said. “We need to go green to free us from our dependence on foreign oil.”
Citing proprietary concerns, Herman provided few technical details about the inner workings of Jetsteam Wind’s proposed plant in New Mexico.
The July 4 ground breaking at the Truth or Consequences, NM site was a “private ceremony,” according to the Jetstream website. Also odd. When people build real ground breaking renewable power plants these days, a phone call or two can turn up a gaggle of celebrities and a posse of politicians with goofy green smiles for the cameras. But not even on there website do I see a photo of this earth-shattering ground breaking event.
Hawaii blogger Ian Lind concludes, “It seems that Jetstream Wind may just be hot air.”
And when you hear the company’s CEO say things like, “We’re the first company that had the foresight to jump on creating a combinatory system and putting the pieces together to make it viable for the public and for electric generation,” it does sound like hot air.
(I posted about Jetstream a few days ago as well.)
