— from Bev Madden —
The OPALCO Board of Directors will hold its monthly meeting Thursday, January 22 at 8:45 am at the Eastsound OPALCO office. All members are welcome to attend.
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Some questions regarding this article:
https://www.opalco.com/news_article/submarine-cables-revenue-shortfall-drive-rates-up/
1. It sounds like OPALCO is on a path to continue to rely on Bonneville to provide basically all our power, and we are going to continue to spend LARGE amounts of money to replace underwater cables. Might it be better to start looking at transitioning to generating a LOT more power locally? Not just some feel good solar panels, like something way more serious. Wind turbines, cogen plant, tidal, etc. This is obviously a long term thing, but are we better off more self sufficient with “micro power plants” on each major island?
2. The $7.5m loan to startup the broadband unit. It says they will be cash flow positive in 2017. Does this also include the broadband side paying back that $7.5m loan (with interest) to the power side? And does this also include paying back the power members for the $3/month for 24 months they paid PER meter?
Sounds like good questions to bring up during a public comment time at the board meeting.