solar_coaster

While our first show from CES highlighted two different companies focusing on air and vehicular electrification ( Daimler and Bell), we now turn our heads to one organization remarkably doing BOTH, Hyundai Mobis ( a supplier for Hyundai) and Hyundai/Uber partnership together showing a comprehensive vision for air mobility and ground transport in the future.

Can you see a future where your ride hail extends out from an autonomous human machine merge Uber pickup at your home, to get to the Uber VTOL helipad only 15 minutes away, and after a quick 60 mile hop to the nearest international airport where your board a fully electric commercial airliner? ( another story for sure but.. FYI there's one on Israel being pitched today.. ah yet another show)

CES Show #3 and we focus on innovative EV Charging technology.

Wallbox and EVbox are two companies to make sure you check out.

Aloha from Maui!

CES coverage continues with two companies poised to change the way our food is produced, transported and consumed.

Impossible Foods, the company that convinced Burger King to feature a plant-based meat to the heart of the meat eater world, fast food! How did they do it? Whats next? Hear directly from the scientists who made it happen.

And ...Grov Tech, new LED tech allows for seeds to get the perfect day every day in these hyper-efficient vertical farms. Will these systems help our existing food supply system reduce energy inputs, land use, shipping costs ...while improving produce quality and nutrient density and speeding up the whole grow process.

Checkout the future of food from CES 2020 with Josh, Jay and Brian!

We get a chance to chat with Wes Doane on the reintroduction of Intersolar to North America, San Diego as a home city and new plans including the first ever Solar Games, where four teams compete to install two different solar plus storage system types on the show floor. Tune in and better still sign up for Intersolar today to be a part of this historical event!

https://www.intersolar.us/

With CES 2020 Las Vegas in full swing, Josh joins the fray and scours the dozen plus venues, 4500 exhibitors and 177,000 attendees to find energy innovation where-ever it may be hiding.

Air mobility and new EV concepts captured all of our imagination and Bell's Nexus and Mercedes AVTR were two major highlights. Check out the inside of the future of air mobility with one of Bell's head designers on site and explore the full technical ecosystem it'll take to finally get us to a "Jetsons" future.

Then join us with Mercedes, 130 years in the future, as James Cameron's AVTR plugs into Josh, reading his heartbeat as man and machine merge.

A dozen more CES interviews are in the can and pending release. Stay close to the SolarCoaster where the worlds new energy future is uncovered one innovation at a time!

SolarCoaster welcomes Eric Foellmer of XLFleet to discuss EV's in light of a hybrid fleet technology that has been around for a hundred million miles. Imagine a current day F150 with a plug-in hybrid system that saves 33% ghg's and adds about 50% to you mpg's. Sounds pretty good right?!

As the decade comes to a close Josh and Jay invite next-gen Coasters on the air to talk about their expectations for 2020, the upcoming decade, climate change, the new energy economy and all things SolarCoaster!!

This week the Dynamic Duo at Electric GT, Eric Hutchinson & and Brock Winberg help us see a future where the classic cars that we love can be transformed, preserved, re-powered with electric motors!

Saving GHG's and making life all around better ..the guys imagine a world where the cars we grew up dreaming about are easier to drive, on the road more reliably and perhaps we can even power them with the sun from our home solar systems!!

What dream car do you want to electrify??

After a robust dialogue re the Peaehu contested case hearing, The team invites back CarrollAnn of Pono Power Coalition to continue the discussion about how community members can better participate in the decision making process around our ramp to 100% renewables.

Should community members be a part of the land choice discussion at the earliest stages of the RFP process? Can DEBEDT's solar modeling program HAVEN help to visualize what a 100% renewable energy Maui will look like? Are compromised or contaminated lands a viable source for location of these utility scale systems? Are new technologies like Sunflare and other lightweight CIGS panels a good option for these locations with unsettled lands like landfills. If not solar how about SMR's, or other sources of energy and firm power. How does the IPCC's assessment of 12 years left to mitigate climate change play into the urgency of our decision making. Or to quote Tyler Durden in FIght Club are we only "polishing the brass on the Titanic?" Should community members be given back NEM and as a part of the utility scale solar roll out. Josh says yes! Tune in to hear all the juiciest Maui and Solar bits!!!

Meanwhile ...Musk says

“If you wanted to power the entire United States with solar panels, it would take a fairly small corner of Nevada or Texas or Utah; you only need about 100 miles by 100 miles of solar panels to power the entire United States,” Musk said at at the event in Rhode Island. “The batteries you need to store the energy, so you have 24/7 power, is 1 mile by 1 mile. One square-mile.”

All hands on deck!

The Pono Power Coalition contested case hearing against the Paeahu Solar Project to be located in between Maui Meadows and Kula was held last week at the Maui Tech Park. What does it mean when 50,000 solar panels are installed 250 ft away from our communities? Is this a small price to pay for our state's path to 100% renewable energy independence or an eye sore that should be located elsewhere? This show brings all the participants together, the PUC, the Consumer Advocate, the utility itself.. Hawaiian Electric Companies, the developer, Innergex, as well as the plaintiff, the Pono Power Coalition. Thought provoking questions are raised! Is VPP and distributed customer sited solar an alternative to utility scale solar? Was the use of one common attorney by the many developers a violation of anti-trust laws? Is our community getting the best deal possible for this energy? Should the RFP process itself bring in community members' perspectives earlier when considering solar farm locations? Will our community be able to meet its RPS milestones if this level of public scrutiny is received on the many other projects ahead of us in RFP Phase 2? Change is upon us folks. Tune in to get your daily dose of utility scale Sunshine controversy!!!

Hear a recorded field interview takeaway with Innergex representative Eddie Park post hearing and a call-in by Pono Power Coalition representative Carolann Barrows. Consumer advocate declined comment while both the Public Utility Commission and Maui Electric issued statements as listed below:

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PUC

The following is a statement from Hawaii Public Utilities Commission Chair James Griffin:

“The parties and participants may file post-hearing briefs two weeks after the hearing transcript is completed. The PUC will notify the parties when the transcript has been filed with the Commission. The PUC will issue a decision after receiving the briefs and no timeline has been set for the decision.”

Thank you and have a great weekend!

Jodi

Jodi Endo Chai

Executive Officer

State of Hawaii - Public Utilities Commission

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Aloha Josh,

Nice chatting with you over the phone and thank you for your email. The Consumer Advocate’s office does not have any further comment to add to which was already made on record into the docket. If you have any specific questions for this, we can answer them at a later time (with more lead time would be appreciated, too). 😊

Have a great show!

Mahalo,

Jessica Chillingworth

Education Specialist

State of Hawaii, DCCA – Division of Consumer Advocacy

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Hi Josh!

Thanks for your phone message today!

"Paeahu Solar is a good project that will provide benefits to all of our customers and it will help accelerate the transition from imported fossil fuels to local renewable energy.

Throughout this process, Innergex has done extensive community outreach.

The developer also listened to concerns about the location of the project by moving it even further than it already was, which was already further than the required setback under county regulations.

Maui Electric recognizes siting any kind of energy project on an island is challenging because space is limited. There will always be tradeoffs and even more renewable energy projects are coming. If we’re serious about taking action on climate change and getting off fossil fuels, we all have to work together to manage the tradeoffs.

There will be no perfect choice. Waiting for the perfect project at the perfect price in the perfect location isn’t realistic if we are going to make any significant progress in replacing fossil fuels and meeting our clean energy goals."

Thanks again!

SHAYNA DECKER

Manager, Communications

Maui Electric

PO Box 398 / Kahului, Maui, HI 96733-6898

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