Why did Hawaiian Electric Company announce a commitment to use 100-percent biofuels to power its new plant?
Hawaiian Electric Company wants to create a firm market demand that will help encourage the development of a home-grown agricultural energy industry – both for transportation and electricity generation. At the urging of the Hawaii Consumer Advocate — and others in the community, including the Mayor of the City & County of Honolulu — Hawaiian Electric Company committed to fuel the new plant (a 110-megawatt peaking unit to be built at Campbell Industrial Park by mid-2009) entirely with biodiesel. And we received approval from the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission to do so. After a competitive bidding process, Hawaiian Electric Company selected Imperium Services, LLC, an affiliate of Imperium Renewables Hawaii, to supply biodiesel for the unit through 2011. The contract was submitted to the PUC for approval in October 2007, but it was declined in August 2009. As a result, Hawaiian Electric has issued a new request for proposals to find a biodiesel supplier and negotiate a new contract
