Renewable energy assistance for Hawaii fish farmers
USA: Earlier this week new laws were introduced in Hawaii helping companies with renewable energy to reduce Hawaii's dependence on oil. The laws include fish farmers who want to develop renewable energy for their farms.
The state's governor, Linda Lingle, signed three renewable energy bills into law this week. One bill establishes new classes of loans that will help farmers create their own power for their operations. The bill expands the state's existing agricultural and aquaculture loan programs to allow farmers to develop renewable energy for their farms using sources such as photovoltaic, hydro, wind, methane, biodiesel and ethanol.
Two of the bills will provide renewable energy project developers with assistance with the permitting process and the third bill will allow the state Department of Agriculture to offer a new class of loans to encourage farmers to produce alternative sources of energy, the state said.
The maximum loan amount would be USD 1.5 million or 85 percent of the project cost, whichever is less, for up to 40 years. The annual interest rate will be 3 percent for agricultural loans and 5 percent for aquaculture loans.
