Hawaiian Electric Co.’s plan to generate power with biodiesel from a proposed Hawaii island refinery drew mixed reaction at a series of public hearings recently.

A common criticism voiced at the Public Utilities Commission hearings last week on Oahu and Hawaii island concerned the cost that using biodiesel would add to customers’ bills.

Supporters, on the other hand, praised the plan as an important early step in the state’s effort to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels. The proposal also drew praise for the potential economic boost it would bring to the Kau area of Hawaii island where a biofuel refinery would be built.

About 35 people signed up to testify at hearings in Hilo and Kailua-Kona on Aug. 2, while another dozen submitted written testimony electronically. In Honolulu about 20 people testified in person or submitted testimony at a hearing Aug. 4.

Using biodiesel would add about one-third of a cent per kilowatt hour over the cost of using petroleum to generate electricity, HECO said. That amounts to about $1.75 a month for customers using 500 kilowatt hours a month and $2.10 for customers using 600 kilowatt hours a month, according to the utility.

The surcharge would be paid by HECO customers on Oahu and by customers of its Hawaii Electric Light Co. subsidiary on Hawaii island. The surcharge would not apply to customers of HECO’s subsidiary in Maui County.

HECO has signed a contract to buy 16 million gallons of biofuel annually from Aina Koa Pono, a Honolulu-based company that plans to build a $320 million biofuel refinery on Hawaii island. The facility would be able to convert a variety of existing wild plants as well as cultivated crops into liquid fuel, AKP has said.

AKP hopes to break ground early next year at a site near Pahala and begin full commercial production of biodiesel by late 2013. The contract calls for Aina Koa Pono to supply biofuel to HECO at a fixed price over 20 years beginning in 2014. The biofuel would initially be burned at HELCO’s Keahole power plant on the Kona coast, but the utility said it also could be shipped by barge to other islands.

"I oppose any ventures that will increase our electric rates. We are already paying four times the national average, which is unacceptable," Kau resident Lee Mcintosh said in written testimony submitted to the PUC. "The purpose of the PUC is to find a balance in protecting rate payers and the utility companies, not giving the electric utilities a free pass to do as they please."

Capt. Stephen P. Reimers at U.S. Pacific Fleet Headquarters said in written testimony that he was concerned about both the additional cost and the viability of technology that would be employed by Aina Koa Pono.

"I am writing to express my concern regarding HECO/HELCO’s request to stick us utility users with yet another bogus charge — this time for overpriced biodiesel fuel that is being touted to reduce greenhouse emissions, benefit local agricultural and economic interests, and somehow reduce dependency on foreign oil but there is absolutely no proof of any of that being possible," Reimers wrote in his testimony.

"Second, has the company that is going to get this money proven that they can actually make 16 million gallons of the stuff? I don’t think so."

HECO Executive Vice President Robbie Alm testified that biofuels are a key component of the utility’s portfolio of renewable energy resources that includes wind, solar, garbage-to-energy, biomass, geothermal and ocean.

"Biofuels play an important role in this energy future. Because most of Hawaii’s conventional generators use liquid fossil fuel oil, we have an opportunity that most other places do not," Alm told PUC members at the Honolulu hearing.

"We can transition to the future using existing facilities and simply replace the use of fossil fuel with renewable biofuels."