Heating up in Hawaii – Hot News from Sea to Shore

by Helena Tavares Kennedy (Biofuels Digest) ... The VERGE conference was held in Honolulu last week gathering energy and transportation leaders to talk about lessons learned in clean energy and electricity that can be transferred to the transportation sector. Among the topics was how Hawaii managed to more than double the amount of electricity the state generates from clean power, boosting it from 9% in 2010 to around 25% this year. This huge accomplishment will surely help Hawaii reach its first-in-the-nation goal of powering 100% of the islands’ electricity needs with solar and wind by 2045. But will Hawaii reach its similarly bold goal of 100% of its ground transportation to be powered by renewable fuel sources by 2045? Or will it be more complicated than that?

At the conference, large vehicle fleet operators talked about the challenges with electric vehicles, causing them to focus on natural gas, hydrogen fuel cells and of course biodiesel and biofuels.

Hawaiian Electric, the state’s largest electricity provider, has a fleet of 1,486 vehicles across all the islands and while the power company accesses some public funds to help buy cleaner vehicles, it still has only converted 14% of its fleet to battery-powered, biodiesel-powered or natural gas-powered, according to Green Biz.

So what can Hawaii’s transportation sector do to reach their 2045 goal of 100% renewable fuel sources? First, government needs to be on board and policies in place to encourage biofuels and renewable sources – that’s a given.

In February, in the 2018 State of Hawaii Legislative Session, Senator Lorraine Inouye introduced SB 2019 that requires on-road fuel sold in the State to contain no less than 10% biofuel by volume by 2020 and that amends the definition of “biofuels” to include ethanol and biodiesel.

In May, the Digest reported that a new $1.5 million program from the state’s Agribusiness Development Corp. is under development to produce algae from food waste with an eye on spoiled papaya. The project would scale up successful work done at lab scale in a test tube by the Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center using papaya as feedstock for the algae. Four 2,000-gallon tanks will be located on a 1.5-acre lot next to the Pacific Biodiesel facility in Puna.

In March, the Digest reported that Lamplighter Energy is looking at buying the famous 85-square-mile Molokai Ranch in order to, in part, grow 31 square miles of hibiscus for biofuel production.

As reported in The Digest in August 2017, pongamia trees are being farmed for the first time in experimental plots in Oahu to help meet Hawaii’s biofuel needs, specifically for biodiesel and jet fuel.

As reported by The Digest in November 2017, Hawaiian Electric Company and Pacific Biodiesel Technologies reached an agreement for the Maui-based biofuel company to supply biodiesel processed from recycled waste cooking oil and other local feedstocks for the 50-megawatt Schofield Generating Station, eight-megawatt Honolulu International Airport Emergency Power Facility, and other Oahu generation facilities as needed. The three-year renewable contract for 2 million to 4 million gallons per year went into effect in 2018. Biodiesel processed at Pacific Biodiesel’s refinery on Hawaii Island will be barged to Oahu in secure, stainless-steel containers and trucked to sites where it will be used.

In August 2017, the Digest reported that the groundbreaking for Hawaii’s first public fueling station for hydrogen vehicles located on Oahu occurred. Hawaii plans on selling hydrogen fueled cars, like the latest Toyota Mirai, by next year and the fueling station should be completed by early 2018. The Mirai has an estimated cost of $55,000 but can go about 312 miles before refueling and only takes a few minutes to refuel using electrolyzed water that splits into hydrogen and water. To sweeten the deal, Servco Pacific is looking into offering Mirai car owners with free fuel for three years. The only emissions from driving the hydrogen car? Water. READ MORE