Feds get Hawaii sugar plantation’s help to power Navy, shift away from fossil fuels

Hawaii sugar grower working to power Navy

HONOLULU — Navy fighter jets and ship could be powered by biofuels grown in Hawaii under an effort funded by the federal government.

The government is spending at least $10 million over five years on research and development at Maui cane fields for crops capable of fueling Navy fighter jets and ships. The project also may provide farmers in other warm climates with a model for harvesting biofuel crops.

Hawaii has become a key federal laboratory for biofuels because of its dependence on imported oil and its great weather for growing crops. It also has a large military presence.

The Office of Naval Research is funding the five-year program at Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar, a company dating to the 1870s that runs the last sugar plantation in the state.