Lava flows to the ocean in Hawaii, creating rare natural show

HONOLULU (Reuters) - A volcano on Hawaii's largest island is spilling lava into the ocean, creating a rare and spectacular fusion of steam and waves that officials said on Tuesday could attract thrill-seeking visitors if it continues.

Lava from a vent in Kilauea Volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii began flowing into the ocean 7 miles away on Saturday. The volcano has been erupting continuously from its Pu'u O'o vent since 1983.

The flow was the first from the volcano to reach the ocean since December, said Janet Babb, spokeswoman for the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

Even as Hawaii tourism officials awaited an increase in visitors drawn by the explosive natural show, officials warned of potentially deadly risks and urged visitors to stay a safe distance away and respect barriers placed around the lava flow.

"Ocean entries can be quite beautiful but also quite dangerous," Babb said.

When the lava reaches the ocean, it cools, darkens and hardens into a lava delta amid an outpouring of steam. The lava delta is newly created land that is unstable and can collapse without warning.

When it collapses, even visitors standing 100 yards (meters) away can be hurt because large chunks of lava and hot water are hurled their direction by the collapse, Babb said.

"The molten lava meeting the ocean creates steam which may look innocuous, but can be quite hazardous," she said. "It's acidic and contains tiny particles of volcanic glass. And waves crashing with the lava can send out scalding water."

It was not clear how long the lava would continue flowing into the ocean.

George Applegate, director of the Big Island Visitors Bureau, said he expected an increase in tourists due to the latest occurrence of the phenomenon. "We always do," Applegate said. "A lot of people want to see a live lava flow."

Tourism officials declined to estimate how many more visitors they might see on the Big Island because of the lava flow. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, which encompasses Kilauea, welcomed more than 1.3 million visitors last year, according to park spokeswoman Jessica Ferracane.

Security workers were keeping people beyond the barriers during approved viewing hours, said Barry Periatt, plans and operations officer for Hawaii County's Civil Defense Agency.

No communities around the volcano are threatened by the lava flow, Periatt said. The nearest town is Kalapana Gardens, which is more than half a mile away. It suffered major damage from a 1986 volcano flow.

Commentary: It's simply amazing the show Kilauea has put on for the local residents of Hawaii for the past 29 consecutive years. Tourists from around the world eagerly fly to the big island of Hawaii just to view lava flowing from Kilauea. 

Hawaii’s Solar Market Is Booming; Why This Is a Very Bad Thing

In June 2001, when Hawaii became the 35th state to adopt a Net Energy Metering (NEM) law to promote the installation of small renewable energy grid-connected systems, it probably seemed like one of those “duh” moments. All that sun power waiting to be harnessed would certainly transform the state into one blazing hot solar market.

But things started out slowly. In a recent article for the Honolulu Civil Beat, Marco Mangelsdorf, who is president of ProVision Solar and also teaches energy politics at University of Hawaii at Hilo, noted that from 2001 through 2007 a total of only 386 NEM systems were installed across the state. By 2011, that number had risen to 9,625 and this explosive growth has had unexpected consequences.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Hawaii’s homeowners and businesses are now producing nearly 140 megawatts of their own power, or the equivalent of a medium-size power plant. This has theHawaiian Electric company worried that all this do-it-yourself solar power could threaten parts of the electrical grid if the power generated by homeowners in some areas starts to exceed the output from power plants.

MORE: Katrina-Ravaged Neighborhood Reemerges as 'Largest Solar Housing Development in Southeast'

Part of the problem is that each island has its own separate power grid, so it’s not easy to quickly compensate with power generated elsewhere. The Times reported that, “The result, if not carefully managed, can be computer-killing power surges (in cases of excess generation), flickering lights, isolated blackouts or worse,” and quoted Robert Alm, executive vice president of Hawaiian Electric, as saying, "It can crash the entire system."

“The electric utilities will not let the system crash,” Mangelsdorf told TakePart. “In principle, it’s not that complicated: the grid is finite. Therefore, the amount of power, from whatever sources, feeding into the grid has to be finite. The big debate is over the mix. Any typical power grid must have a certain percentage of what they call ‘firm’ power, i.e., not solar or wind non-firm, variable power.”

He added that, “While there’s interesting stuff going on in the labs as far as this ambiguous thing called a ‘smart grid,’ I don’t believe that any techno fixes are going to keep up with the reality on the ground as far as circuit after circuit reaching saturation and being closed to more DG [distributed generation] penetration. Others appear to have more faith than I do in the practicality and timeliness of the techno fixes.”

Power surges aside, elected officials are also concerned about the effect of the state’s renewable-energy tax credit on overall revenue forecasts. Hawaii offers a 35 percent state income tax credit for homeowners and businesses that install PV systems, and that incentive can be used in combination with a 30 percent federal tax credit. The Honolulu Star Advertiser stated last month that the cost of the state tax credit has grown from $34.7 million in 2010 to $173.8 million in 2012.”

In fact, the Civil Beat reported earlier this month that the Hawaii Department of Taxation has issued new rules that “effectively restrict the number of tax credits that homeowners and solar companies can claim on solar arrays.” And they predict that the fight against the tax department’s new rules is certain to be a focus of lawmakers when their legislative session begins in mid-January.

Considering all that’s at stake—for homeowners, solar companies, and environmentalists—it should be an interesting fight.

Commentary: With the current costs of electricity, it's not surprising that solar electric  power panels are suddenly appearing on local homes in Hawaii. Consumes are truly benefitting because they save a nice bundle of money each year, verses paying the local electric company. Hopefully other states follow suit.