PROJECT OVERVIEW

Purpose & Need
The purpose of the Hu Honua Bioenergy Facility is to use 100 percent biomass to power a 24-megawatt (MW) renewable energy facility and to help Hawaii Island, Hawaiian Electric Industries (HEI) and the state reach their renewable energy initiative goals. Once the facility begins operation, it has the ability to power about 18,000 homes with renewable energy.

This project makes sense and is needed because Hawaii is the most oil-dependent state in the country. Seventy-seven percent of the state’s electricity is generated by petroleum, and ninety-nine percent of the crude oil consumed in Hawaii comes from foreign sources. Hu Honua will displace the output of oil-fired HELCO units, eliminating about 250,000 barrels of imported oil per year. The opening of Hu Honua will also help HELCO meet the State of Hawaii’s requirements to produce twenty percent of the state’s electricity from renewable sources by 2020.

Power plant process flow diagram Click to enlarge

Helping to paint the first green paint strokes on the former Pepeekeo sugar mill power station, symbolic of its transformation into a “green” biomass energy facility, were (from left) Hu Honua Bioenergy director Dan KenKnight, ILWU 142 Hawaii division director Richard Baker, Hawaii County director of research and development Jane Testa, U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka, U.S. Representative Mazie K. Hirono, MMA Renewable Ventures vice president Tim Lasocki , U.S. Representative Neil Abercrombie and Hu Honua Bioenergy COO Guy Simmons. (Aug. 20, 2008; photo courtesy of Hu Honua Bioenergy, LLC)