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Mark Tholke was just another vacationer on Southern California’s Catalina Island eight years ago when he asked someone how the popular holiday destination about 30 miles off the shore of Los Angeles got its electric power.
He was shocked to find out that the island, more than 88% of which is protected natural lands, is powered by dirty diesel generators with imported fuel. Some of the pollution from that fuel even drifts east, contributing to L.A.’s legendary smog.
“I’m an energy nerd so I asked how they got their energy,” said the renewable energy executive from Half Moon Bay near San Francisco. “I was shocked to learn it was diesel, and that some of the generators dated back to JFK.”
Tholke set about the long process of cold calling the Catalina Island Conservancy, which is California’s oldest private land trust, and pushing for a solution. Eight years and many permit applications later, Tholke is on Catalina this week to celebrate the Sept. 1 launch of a 170-kilowatt solar project just next to the island’s airport.
Three-hundred and fifty panels are being laid down on about three-quarters of an acre to start generating solar energy by the end of the year, and perhaps convince Southern California Edison, which powers the island with diesel, to take a harder look at a solar solution.
“It’s a modest project but it will help save some 25,000 gallons of diesel a year (from burning),” Tholke said in an interview. “The potential for solar on islands as the price of diesel skyrockets is the clear answer.”
David Callaway explains why this column is called Zeus in The coming battle with the climate gods: How mortal innovators and investors will save the planet.
Indeed, prices of diesel fuel, which burns much dirtier than regular gasoline, have soared even more than their counterparts this year in reaction to supply disruptions from the Middle East because of the war in Iran. Prices in California and Hawaii are up at $7 a gallon, almost $2 higher this year, while average prices nationally are about $5.50 a gallon.
Tholke said Southern California Edison, a private utility, burns about 2.2 million gallons of diesel a year to power Catalina, and uses an additional 325,000 to transport it to the island by tanker. He said Edison has looked at solar for a long time and but has so far done little to begin production.
Although the parent company of SCE, Edison International EIX 0.00%↑, whose shares are flat this year, provided a $300,000 grant to the Catalina Conservancy, which it used to contract with Tholke’s development company to build out the solar program.
Tholke has been in renewable energy for more than 30 years and has worked for companies such as Green Mountain Energy, GE Wind, EDF Renewables, and Advanced Microgrid Solutions before starting his own developer, Golden State Renewable Energy.
Tholke said he hopes Catalina can be an example for other islands around the world that use imported fuel to power their energy demands, in particular floating solar projects that don’t take up valuable, environmental land space.
Most of the past eight years were spent trying to acquire the permits to begin the solar project, Tholke said. The red tape and cost of finding the right space, then building, is what many companies use to just stick with what they have, he said. SCE, for example, has replaced some of its diesel generators with new ones.
“It was really just find a spot and build as big of a solar project as you can,” he said. “Any more solar than Edison has to be the partner.
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