Finalists for a waste-to-energy incinerator at a pre-bid conference Thursday asked county officials for more time to prepare their proposals, but Mayor Billy Kenoi, on a fast track to get a facility on the ground before he leaves office in late 2016, said three months is long enough.
Finalists were also concerned about whether the County Council will approve the price of the project, which will likely have a 25-year contract costing more than $125 million.
The group heard an update from county Purchasing Agent Jeffrey Dansdill and Environmental Management Director Bobby Jean Leithead Todd before taking a tour of the Hilo landfill, stopping at the county sort station and inspecting a flat, paved, 7-acre parcel immediately above it where the facility is slated to be located.
The companies are Covanta Energy Corp., the operator of Honolulu’s HPower incinerator ; Green Conversion Systems Inc., which recently was chosen to build an incinerator for the city of Los Angeles; and Wheelabrator Technologies Inc., which won a $125 million bid to build an incinerator in 2008 before the project was killed by the Hawaii County Council.
“We feel the county can bear the cost of the facility,” Leithead Todd said, responding to a question from Green Conversion Systems’ Harvey Gershman, who recounted how a previous council had balked at Wheelabrator’s $125 million price tag.
“This will be an expensive project, probably more than the project that was turned down,” Gershman said.
The company representatives said the Oct. 15 deadline to submit their completed proposals just isn’t enough time, especially since the county has yet to supply some key pieces of information or answer the questions they have submitted in writing. Kenoi’s timeline would have a vendor selected by January, with a contract signed in April.
Leithead Todd said the existing Hilo landfill has an estimated two years left, which could be extended to eight years if the county gets the permit it’s applied for to steepen the north slope of the landfill with more garbage.
“I don’t understand why the deadline is so tight when you have eight years left on your landfill,” said Mark Lyons, a Wheelabrator representative. “I’m concerned you won’t get the quality of proposals you deserve if you don’t extend the deadline.”
His concerns were echoed by other vendors, including Covanta’s Steven Weber. Weber asked for a three-month extension.
Kenoi, who didn’t attend the conference or tour, said later that it’s ultimately up to the evaluation committee whether more time is necessary, but he doesn’t think it is.
“They should have the capacity to submit a firm proposal given the timeline that is established,” Kenoi said.
During the conference and tour, Leithead Todd told the 10 vendor representatives that the county would landfill the resultant ash at the Hilo landfill, if it has the capacity and permits. The lined landfill at Puuanahulu in West Hawaii could also be used to dispose of the ash, she said.
“The ash disposal is going to be the county’s responsibility,” Leithead Todd said.
She said the county administration has been in “discussions” with Hawaii Electric Light Co. for a power purchase agreement and will have estimates on energy sales based on the most recent negotiations.
The county administration and some County Council members have been coy about calling the planned project a “waste-to-energy incinerator,” preferring instead to call it a “waste reduction facility.” But given the energy production requirements in the request for proposals, a waste-to-energy incinerator is really the only solution, Lyons told West Hawaii Today.
Other technologies such as anaerobic digestion can produce fuel or energy from organic matter, but the state-of the-art technology for mixed municipal solid waste is still waste-to-energy incineration, he said. But technical advances have made the systems much cleaner with much lower emissions than a decade or so ago, noted Leithead Todd.
“They’re cleaner than some of the existing power plants on this island,” she said.
