Hawaii Electric Light Company (HELCO) has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Hu Honua Bioenergy to buy 21.5MW from its biomass facility located in the US state of Hawaii.
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The facility located at Pepeekeo on the Hamakua Coast, is expected to generate enough clean and renewable power to fulfill 10% of the electricity needs of the island.
Hu Honua CEO John Sylvia said the company would displace about 250,000 barrels of oil per year, keeping that money in the local economy.
"We look forward to providing dispatchable renewable energy to the grid, which complements the integration of intermittent sources such as wind and solar," Sylvia said.
"Our biomass-to-electricity process is cleaner than fossil fuel, is efficient and makes use of existing sustainable biomass on the island."
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By GlobalDataUnder the terms of 20-year PPA, Honua Bioenergy will supply the electricity from the facility, which is using renewable bio-fuel and locally grown biomass such as eucalyptus to generate power.
HELCO president Jay Ignacio said, "With the addition of Hu Honua to the HELCO power grid, over 50 percent of our island’s electricity will be provided by renewable resources."
Honua Bioenergy has transformed the former Pepeekeo Sugar Mill into a modern electric generation facility and has a biomass fuel yard, steam boiler, turbine and generator to produce energy.
The PPA is subject to approval from the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission which will consider inputs from the state Division of Consumer Advocacy before the final decision.
