HECO selects fuel supplier for new plant
Hawaiian Electric Co. has selected a biodiesel fuel supplier for its new Campbell Industrial Park plant.
Imperium Services LLC, a subsidiary of Seattle-based renewable energy producer Imperium Renewables Inc., will be the exclusive fuel provider for the plant, set to begin commercial operation in mid-2009. It is the same company that also planning to build a $90 million processing plant in Kapolei to produce 100 million gallons of biodiesel a year.
Imperium will supply the state's first biodiesel plant with 5 million to 12 million gallons of biodiesel annually through 2011, HECO said yesterday. Financial details were not disclosed.
"We are quite confident that they can deliver what they promise," said HECO spokes-man Peter Rosegg. "They were also willing to sign on to our biofuels requirements."
Imperium will initially import canola, soybean and palm oils to the plant, but will gradually increase its use of local feedstocks, such as kukui nuts and coconuts. All imported feedstocks will meet sustainability and environmental standards established by HECO and the Natural Resources Defense Council, Rosegg said.
Construction on the 110-megawatt plant, approved in May by the Public Utilities Commission, will begin early next year at a cost of $142.3 million. The plant will have two buildings, two fuel tanks and one 210-foot-high exhaust stack. It is designed to run several hours each day to help HECO's 1,700-megawatt Oahu system deal with peak power usage, which occurs between 5 and 9 p.m.
In August, Imperium opened a Greys Harbor, Wash., facility capable of producing 100 million gallons of biodiesel per year. It is the largest biodiesel production facility in the U.S.