Hawaii would become a testing ground for projects that harness wind, wave, solar, thermal and other renewable energy sources under a unique federal partnership being announced next week.

The U.S. Department of Energy is scheduled to announce a first-of-its-kind partnership with the state that aims to accelerate development of cleaner-burning energy sources.

Officials say the initiative will position Hawaii as a model for others to follow as global economies shift away from the dependence on fossil fuels.

That announcement is scheduled for Monday, two days ahead of an international conference being convened by President Bush to discuss policy on greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.

Gov. Linda Lingle touched on the federal partnership, known as the "Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative," in her State of the State address, saying it would bring both technical assistance and funding to develop renewable energy projects.

It is unknown exactly how much money the projects could bring into the state.

Officials say federal agencies and the state could invest billions of dollars in the development of new energy technologies during the next several decades.

The Energy Department has already begun requesting information. The agency says it wants to hear from financiers, developers and other stakeholders about what would be needed to "create an environment conducive to streamlined, cost-effective development and financing of clean energy supply, delivery and end-use projects in Hawaii."

The overall goal is to power Hawaii using energy from the islands' natural resources, such as wind, waves, the sun or geothermal heat, "and to provide a model for similar market transformation elsewhere."

Andy Karsner, the Energy Department's assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy, is expected to announce details of the project with Lingle.

Meanwhile, the climate change conference is a continuation of talks initiated by Bush in Washington in September aimed at forcing a dialogue among countries that produce more than 80 percent of the world's greenhouse gasses.

Representatives from 16 countries, the United Nations and the European Union are scheduled to meet Wednesday and Thursday at the East-West Center for the conference, titled "Major Economies Meeting on Energy Security and Climate Change."

"It's very significant, I think, to be urging our government to make sure that we come up with an aggressive climate change policy," said House Energy Chairwoman Hermina Morita.

The talks also come a month after a United Nations climate change conference in Bali, Indonesia, at which the European Union threatened to boycott the Honolulu gathering if the U.S. did not agree to a goal that industrial nations would strive to cut their carbon emissions by 25 to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.

That level of reduction was recommended by the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in order to bring global warming into check. The Bali agreement finalized last month removed those target numbers as a concession to the U.S.

Officials from the European Union are scheduled to participate in the Hawaii conference, governor's spokesman Russell Pang said yesterday.

In addition to the United States, countries scheduled to be at the talks are Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and the United Kingdom, according to the Governor's Office.

(Credit: B.J. Reyes, Star Bulletin, Honolulu)

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