• 02 Lug 2015

A subsidiary of Canada’s largest private utility is gearing up for an expansion of its liquefied natural gas facility in British Columbia, which may sell natural gas to Hawaiian Electric Co. Doug Stout, vice president of market development and external affairs for FortisBC, said in an opinion piece in the Delta Optimist on Friday that Hawaiian Electric is interested in LNG supplied from its Tilbury LNG facility as a bridge replacement of oil as the state moves closer to its 100 percent renewable energy goal by 2045. He also noted that it is doing early design work for the expansion of the Tilbury facility that would serve Hawaiian Electric. Last August, the state’s largest utility said it reached an agreement with FortisBC to undergo the liquefaction process, which turns natural gas into LNG, a cold liquid that takes 600 times less space than gas. The agreement still needs the approval from the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission and will require other regulatory approvals and permits. Hawaiian Electric said earlier this month that it does not envision shipping LNG to the Islands until 2019, two years later than it originally planned, as first reported by PBN. The $235 million project, which still needs the approval of the PUC, calls for a vendor to supply and deliver up to 800,000 tons of LNG per year for up to 15 years. Hawaiian Electric had said that it would begin the shipments starting in late 2016 or early 2017. The Honolulu-based utility recently told the PUC that the prospects of LNG being delivered to a bulk terminal in the Islands instead of the other option, a containerized LNG solution, is uncertain at this time. It said that developing a bulk terminal project became a lot tougher in light of the recent passage of a couple of bills related to energy, according to a document filed with the PUC. The bills include one that sets the goal of Hawaii achieving 100 percent renewable energy by 2045 and another that sets limits on the use of LNG. Source: Pacific World News Full opinion by Doug Stout is available here