Pepeekeo’s Hu Honua Bioenergy Facility has once again taken the top spot on the Hawaii State Energy Office’s list of renewable energy projects.
The list ranks 45 of the state’s top clean energy leaders and is updated twice a year. Hu Honua first took the top spot in January.
“The renewable energy projects presented in this directory are demonstrating progress in becoming commercial enterprises that have potential in assisting the State of Hawaii achieve its collective goals,” according to the Hawaii State Energy Office website.
Energy leaders are selected based on their projected size, status of permitting, status of power or fuel purchase agreements and site control.
Hu Honua’s No. 1 ranking comes despite the project encountering a number of hiccups that have slowed its progress over the past several years.
Most recently, construction at the site ceased last year as Hu Honua wrestled with a labor dispute with contractor Hawaiian Dredging Construction Co. The companies reached a settlement in December, and construction work at the site resumed under the supervision of contractor Performance Mechanical.
The Hu Honua biomass-fired electric plant is expected to go into service next year. Two years ago, Hu Honua Bioenergy LLC signed a power purchase agreement with Hawaii Electric Light Co. to produce electric capacity of up to 21.5 megawatts for Big Island customers, representing a sizable chunk of the island’s total firm generation capacity, which stands at 286 megawatts.
Hu Honua’s capacity may be increased within four to nine years after going into operation, according to parent company Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc.’s quarterly report filed earlier this month with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Five other Big Island projects are on the Hawaii State Energy Office list, including the Lalamilo Wind Farm Repowering Project, the OTEC Pilot Project, Aina Koa Pono Ka‘u Renewable Fuel Facility, Big Island Beef Community Wind Project, and Na Puu Water Inc. Photovoltaic Array.
Lalamilo, which took the No. 16 spot in the rankings, is a 26-acre windfarm that will supply up to 3.3 megawatts of energy to power eight existing Hawaii County water wells on land owned by the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources.
“The proposed new windfarm will provide a substantial source of renewable energy to the eight adjacent (County of Hawaii Department of Water Supply) wells and could save DWS customers an estimated $1 million/year over 20 years,” according to the Energy Office website.
Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion, or OTEC, uses the difference between warm surface water temperatures and cold deep water temperatures to generate electricity. Hawaii Island’s 100-kilowatt OTEC turbine was connected last week to the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority’s electric grid in Kailua-Kona. The OTEC project took 18th place on the Clean Energy Leaders list.
Aina Koa Pono Ka‘u Renewable Fuel Facility would generate between 3,000 and 5,000 gallons of liquid fuel per acre per year by harvesting biomass and converting it to fuel via a process known as microwave catalytic depolymerization. In December 2013, the project, located in Ka‘u, was denied approval of its proposed fuel purchase agreement with HELCO by the state Public Utilities Commission, however project leaders have said they are pursuing other opportunities to sell biofuel. Aina Koa Pono holds the 19th spot in the rankings.
Gen-X Energy Development’s Big Island Beef Community Wind project will utilize a Northern Power 100 kilowatt wind turbine to power the Big Island Beef facility in Paauilo. It stands at 39 on the Clean Energy Project Leaders list.
Na Puu Water Inc. is a small, nonprofit, community-based and member-owned water system serving the local residents of the Puuanahulu-Puu Waawaa area. They own two 2,500-foot-deep groundwater wells, and have proposed leasing a 1.74-acre portion of state land adjacent to one of its wells to erect a solar array and flywheel energy storage system capable of storing 400 kilowatt hours of energy. Power from the array would be used to pump water from the aquifer to the surface and into NWI’s system for distribution to customers. The proposal earned the 41st slot on the state project list.
For more information, visit energy.ehawaii.gov/epd/public/re-projects-home.html.
Email Colin M. Stewart at cstewart@hawaiitribune-herald.com.