HECO applies for 6 power purchase deals

Hawaiian Electric Co. on Friday submitted applications to the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission for six power purchase agreements for independently owned solar facilities.

The capacity of the seven solar projects totals 207 megawatts. The average price of the new projects is 14 cents per kilowatt-hour.

The applications include a 19-megawatt project in Wai­pahu from FCHQC Development LLC and a 28-megawatt facility in Wai­anae from Eurus Energy America, a company in San Diego.

Boston-based First Wind has three projects awaiting approval that total 110 megawatts. The First Wind projects are planned to be installed in Waia­lua, Mili­lani and Wai­pio. SunEdison, a St. Peters, Mo.-based solar energy company that recently purchased First Wind, has a 50-megawatt solar project planned to be installed east of the H-2 and Ka Uka interchange.

The solar facility applications were filed two days after NextEra Energy Inc. announced it had agreed to buy HECO’s parent company, Hawaii Electric Industries, for $4.3 billion.

NextEra CEO Jim Robo said he favors large-scale solar projects over rooftop solar as a way to cut costs. Oahu has more than 260 megawatts of customer-sited rooftop solar.

Local building materials companies sold

Honsador Lumber and affiliated companies under Honsador Holding LLC have been sold to Colo­rado-based Grey Mountain Partners.

The private equity firm bought the Hawaii companies from Ohio-based Cyprium Investment Partners LLC for undisclosed terms.

The transaction includes Honsador Lumber, established in 1935, Hono­lulu Wood Treating, as well as Alpha Electric Supply.

Honsador was established as Hono­lulu Sash and Door, which did millwork. The company now has 15 locations in Hawaii and Portland, Ore.

U.S. factory orders fell 0.7% in October

WASHINGTON » Orders to U.S. factories slipped for a third straight month in October and would have fallen even more except for a big jump in defense orders. A key category that tracks business investment spending fell for a second straight month.

Factory orders fell 0.7 percent in October following declines of 0.5 percent in September and 10 percent in August, the Commerce Department reported Friday.

Demand for machinery, computers and primary metals were all down. An important category that is viewed as a proxy for business investment plans fell 1.6 percent following a 1.1 percent decline in September.

The overall decline would have been larger except for a surge in military orders, which jumped 21.2 percent in October, reflecting strong demand for military aircraft. Economists expect the recent weakness will be temporary.

Improving exports pull down trade deficit

WASHINGTON » The U.S. trade deficit fell slightly in October as exports rebounded while oil imports dipped to the lowest level in five years.

The deficit edged down 0.4 percent to $43.4 billion, a drop from a revised $43.6 billion in September, the Commerce Department reported Friday.

Exports climbed 1.2 percent to $197.5 billion, recovering after a September dip. Imports were up as well, rising 0.9 percent to $241 billion, but that increase was tempered by a 0.6 percent fall in imports of petroleum, which dropped to the lowest level since November 2009. The average price of a barrel of oil dipped to $88.47, the lowest point since February 2011.

Through October the deficit is running 4.8 percent below the same period in 2013. A lower deficit provides a boost to economic growth.

Borrowing by consumers cools slightly

WASHINGTON » U.S. consumers increased their borrowing in October but at a slightly slower pace than in the previous month as credit card use slowed.

Overall borrowing rose $13.2 billion following a $15.4 billion gain in September, the Federal Reserve reported Friday. The gains have pushed consumer debt excluding real estate loans to a record level of $3.28 trillion.

The category that includes credit card debt edged up by $922 million after a rise of $1.4 billion in September. The category that covers auto loans and student loans jumped by $12.3 billion after a $14 billion increase in September.

Economists expect that the strong gains in employment seen this year might make consumers more comfortable about increasing their use of credit cards, something they cut back on sharply following the Great Recession.

ON THE MOVE

Maile S. Miller has joined the law firm Starn O’Toole Marcus & Fisher as a litigation associate. She received her law degree from the University of Hawaii at Manoa William S. Richardson School of Law.

Hawaiian Airlines has appointed Phil Moore to vice president of information technology. He has more than 20 years of IT management and leadership experience, including serving as managing director of systems engineering and operations at US Airways and its parent company, American Airlines. Moore also was a chief technology officer at Mattel, director for zone Americas data centers at Nestle SA Globe Center Americas and senior manager of systems management at America West Airlines.

Goodwill Industries of Hawaii has hired Katy Chen to be the nonprofit’s first chief administrative officer. She has more than 15 years of experience as a senior leader of nonprofit organizations and was previously executive director of PATCH as well as executive director of Hawaii Literacy.

SHIP AHOY!

Today’s ship arrivals and departures:

HONOLULU HARBOR