Larry Ellison hires UC San Diego energy expert for Lanai project

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Larry Ellison owns 98% of Lanai, including two resorts and two golf courses with clubhouses. Now he owns a regional airline to get him there.

More: Billionaire Larry Ellison buys a chunk of Hawaii (Hawaii Tourism Authority / Pierce M Myers Photography)

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Tech billionaire Larry Ellison, co-founder and chief executive of Oracle, has been buying properties around Carbon Beach for years, like the Casa Malibu Inn on Pacific Coast Highway. (Carlos Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

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Malibu has its share of billionaires, particularly along a stretch of California coastline called Carbon Beach. Larry Ellison is fond of Malibu and, at various times, purchased adjacent beachfront lots. He has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on trophy properties in the city and Lake Tahoe, Rancho Mirage and other locations where real estate prices are consistently high. (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)

By Lauren Beale

May 17, 2013 5:36 PM PT

Billionaire Larry Ellison has hired UC San Diego energy expert Byron Washom to help fulfill his vision of sustainable energy for the Hawaiian island of Lanai, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

Washom became the school’s first director of strategic energy initiatives in 2008 in an effort to turn the 1,200-acre campus into a “living laboratory” of sustainability.

On Lanai, he will work to maximize renewable energy efforts using a microgrid similar to one he manages at UC San Diego as well as produce more fresh water through desalination.

The university has granted him a 40% work reduction for nine months to pursue the Lanai project. About 10% of the power on the island comes from a solar facility.

Ellison, co-founder of Oracle Corp., acquired nearly 98% of Lanai last June for more than $500 million.

Ranked as the third-richest person nationwide by Forbes magazine, with a fortune estimated at $43 billion, Ellison owns about two dozen properties in Malibu, multiple estates in Northern California, an Indian Wells tennis facility and several Lake Tahoe houses. His Rancho Mirage mansion sports a golf course.

Ellison has said he would like to build museums in homes he owns in Japan, Rhode Island and Malibu.

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