February 1, 2013
Hawaii

Group asks Hawaii regulators to revoke waiver for Lanai wind farm

Jan 31, 2013, Staff Pacific Business News bizjournals.com

The Friends of Lanai has asked the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission to revoke Castle & Cooke Inc.’s waiver from competitive bidding that was given to the company so it could build a wind farm on Lanai.

That request comes months after billionaire Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq: ORCL), bought 98 percent of the island from Castle & Cooke CEO David Murdock in a deal that preserved Murdock’s right to build a wind farm. The “Big Wind” project would be built on about 7,000 acres on the northwest corner of Lanai and would produce between 200 and 400 megawatts of renewable energy.

“Given the fact that David Murdock no longer owns Lanai, the waiver granted to him for Big Wind on Lanai is no longer valid,” Robin Kaye, a spokesperson for Friends of Lanai, said in a statement. “The Commission granted Hawaiian Electric and C&C a waiver from competitive bidding based on, among other conditions, demonstrated site control. Since Larry Ellison is now the owner of Murdock’s previous holdings, Murdock should be required to bid as any other renewable energy developer is required to bid by the PUC’s framework for acquiring new sources of renewable energy.”

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/02/01/group-asks-hawaii-regulators-to-revoke-waiver-for-lanai-wind-farm/