Public Utilities Commission gives Hawaiian Electric OK to purchase renewable biodiesel

PUC gives HECO OK to purchase renewable biodiesel

HONOLULU — The state Public Utilities Commission has given Hawaiian Electric Co. the green light to purchase renewable biodiesel from a subsidiary of Renewable Energy Group of Iowa.

HECO announced in January that it had signed a two-year contract to have the company supply 3 million to 7 million gallons of renewable biodiesel per year.

The fuel processed from used cooking oil, known as yellow grease, and waste animal fat will be used at Hawaiian Electric’s new 110-megawatt combustion turbine generator unit at Campbell Industrial Park on Oahu.

In another ruling, the PUC approved a contract for HECO to buy 1 million gallons of palm oil-derived biodiesel from Sime Darby of Malaysia. The fuel will be used by HECO subsidiary Maui Electric Co. for its biodiesel demonstration project at the Maalaea Power Plant.

“We are moving forward in our quest for locally grown and processed biofuels for our units,” HECO Executive Vice President Robbie Alm said Tuesday.

“We must pursue every renewable resource available — sun, wind, our land and oceans — and take advantage of our unique ability to substitute ‘green’ fuels in place of ‘black’ oil-based fuels in our new and existing units,” Alm said.

The PUC approvals allow Hawaiian Electric and Maui Electric to recover the cost of the fuels, transportation, storage and related costs in the energy cost adjustment surcharge, HECO said.

The utilities make no profit on such fuel costs, it said.