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Amfac to supply
Kauai standby power

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By Anthony Sommer
Kauai correspondent

LIHUE -- Amfac/JMB will cease to be a regular supplier of electricity to Kauai under an agreement approved this week by the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission. It will, however, be required to provide emergency power on a standby basis for several more years.

Amfac closed its Lihue Plantation on Nov. 17. A generator at the sugar mill has provided 14 megawatts -- about 14 percent of Kauai Electric Co.'s power supply -- under a 1992 agreement. It is the third largest generator on the island.

On Tuesday, the PUC amended that agreement requiring Amfac to maintain a 25-member operating crew who can start up the generator within 10 hours if Kauai Electric needs additional electricity.

The 1992 contract required Amfac to give Kauai Electric three years' notice before closing the power plant.

In compensation for not providing the required notice, the PUC approved an offer by Amfac to turn over two of its small hydro-electric plants to Kauai Electric.

The new agreement requiring Amfac to keep its Lihue Plantation generator on standby will remain in effect until a new 26-megawatt plant being built by Kauai Power Partners is finished.

That project is scheduled to be completed in 2003.