Green energy firm will sell power to Hawaii isle utility

Hu Honua plans to generate electricity by burning local eucalyptus trees

By Alan Yonan Jr.

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, May 22, 2012

~~<p>A renewable energy company that plans to burn locally grown eucalyptus trees to generate 10 percent of the Big Island's electricity needs signed an agreement Monday to sell the power to Hawaii Electric Light Co.</p>
<p>The project's developer, Hu Honua Bioenergy LLC, is converting the former Pepeekeo sugar mill on the Hamakua coast to a 21.5-megawatt power plant that will feed electricity into the HELCO grid. The sugar mill, which closed in 1996, has a steam boiler, turbine and generator that previously generated electricity by burning sugar cane waste called bagasse. The boiler, turbine and generator will be used by Hu Honua while the structure, built in 1974, will be renovated.</p>
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A renewable energy company that plans to burn locally grown eucalyptus trees to generate 10 percent of the Big Island's electricity needs signed an agreement Monday to sell the power to Hawaii Electric Light Co.

The project's developer, Hu Honua Bioenergy LLC, is converting the former Pepeekeo sugar mill on the Hamakua coast to a 21.5-megawatt power plant that will feed electricity into the HELCO grid. The sugar mill, which closed in 1996, has a steam boiler, turbine and generator that previously generated electricity by burning sugar cane waste called bagasse. The boiler, turbine and generator will be used by Hu Honua while the structure, built in 1974, will be renovated. Login for more...