By Duane Shimogawa, Pacific Business News

Liquefied natural gas bulk shipments to Hawaii deserves consideration, but only if it supports the state’s renewable energy agenda, the head of the state’s Energy Office told PBN this week in an exclusive interview.

“We’ve said we are open to a consideration of LNG as a bridge only,” Mark Glick, administrator for the state Energy Office, told PBN, pointing out that it has to be limited. “It would only be [used] to displace oil and only to support higher rates of [integrating] renewables and reduce costs.”

Glick reiterated the state’s stance this week on LNG, bulk shipments of which are being proposed for the Islands as a replacement for oil by both Hawaii Gas, the state's only regulated gas utility, and Hawaiian Electric Co.