| Hawai`i BioEnergy, LLC is a partnership between
Maui
Land & Pineapple Company, Grove Farm Company, and Kamehameha
Schools. Maui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc. (ML&P) is a land holding and operating company dedicated to agriculture, resort operation and the creation and management of holistic communities. ML&P owns approximately 25,000 acres on the island of Maui, on which it operates the Kapalua Resort community and cultivates and processes approximately 6,000 acres of pineapple. ML&P also owns and manages the 9,881 acre Pu`u Kukui Watershed Preserve, which is the largest private nature preserve in the state of Hawai`i. ML&P owns two principal subsidiaries, Maui Pineapple Company, Ltd., which operates ML&P’s pineapple and other agricultural activities, and Kapalua Land Company, Ltd., which operates the Kapalua Resort community. These companies share with ML&P one vision and one set of values, which harmonize their activities. In December 2000, Grove Farm
was purchased by Mr. Stephen M. Case, the co-founder of America Online.
Additionally, in July 2001, Mr. Case purchased approximately 18,000
acres of former Lihue Plantation lands in the Lihue/Hanamaulu area,
increasing his land holdings on Kaua'i to about 40,000 acres. Kamehameha
Schools, formerly called Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate, is a
private co-educational college preparatory institution, with three
campuses in Kapālama (Oahu), Pukalani (Maui), and Kea'au (Hawai`i).
Statewide, Kamehameha serves over 6,500 students from preschool through
the twelfth grade. Kamehameha Schools was established in 1887 under the
terms of the last will and testament of Bernice Pauahi Bishop, a direct
descendant of Kamehameha the Great and last of the House of Kamehameha.
Bishop's will established a trust currently called the Bernice Pauahi
Bishop Estate, the largest private landowner in the State of Hawaiʻi.
Income from the trust is used to operate the schools. Hawai`i BioEnergy, LLC today announced on June 11, 2007
that Finistere
Ventures, LLC is its newest member and investor. The San
Diego-based company is a venture capital firm specializing in
agricultural biotechnology and renewable energy. ................................................................................................................................................................................................................... |
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| Nov 9, 2006 Maui Land &
Pineapple Quarterly Report Form 10-Q In July, we announced the formation of Hawaii BioEnergy LLC, an international consortium including our Company. The LLC will research the viability of renewable energy crops, products and services in the State of Hawaii. http://biz.yahoo.com/e/061109/mlp10-q.html August 20, 2006 Summit to focus on isle biofuels: The event will explore ways to break Hawaii's dependence on oil By B.J. Reyes. Honolulu Star Bulletin. August 20, 2006 Three of the state's largest landowners already have started a venture to study the viability of a large-scale biofuels industry in Hawaii. The consortium, known as Hawaii BioEnergy LLC, is studying the availability of land for growing crops that could be converted to fuels, which crops or feed stock would be most efficient and which technologies would be best for making the conversion. Partners include Maui Land & Pineapple Co., Grove Farm Co. and Kamehameha Schools, which together own about 10 percent of the land in the state. The group plans to spend about $1 million over the next six months studying available resources in Hawaii. A progress report is expected by the end of the year. Some experts have said Hawaii would need only about 250,000 acres of land devoted to crops for ethanol to replace the roughly 500 million gallons of gasoline used here each year. In announcing the joint venture last month, Maui Land & Pineapple President David Cole noted that the state has about 480,000 acres of good agricultural land that is undeveloped. http://starbulletin.com/2006/08/20/news/story06.html |
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| July 24, 2006 OUR OPINION Honolulu Star
Bulletin: Biofuels paint greener future for Hawaii THE ISSUE. Isle landowners and other investors have formed a partnership to explore biofuels. THE entry of three of the state's largest landowners and big-money investors into Hawaii's nascent biofuel industry validates what naysayers had dismissed as nonsense -- that the islands have first-rate resources for energy production and increased self-reliance. With oil prices approaching $80 a barrel, mounting instability in the Middle East, an increasing demand for oil and rising environmental concerns, Hawaii's energy future will be on firm ground if its rich agricultural lands grow fuel for its transportation and maybe even its electricity needs. That's the idea behind Hawaii BioEnergy LLC, a partnership of Kamehameha Schools, Maui Land & Pineapple Co. and Grove Farm Co., that combined owns about 10 percent of land in Hawaii; Silicon Valley venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, whose recent focus has been on ethanol and alternative energy enterprises; and two other companies with experience in Brazil's highly successful sugar-cane-to-ethanol initiative. The partnership will look at what crops are best for conversion into alternative fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel, identify available lands for growing them and the technologies for conversion. The alliance puts strategy and action behind a concept for renewable energy that has been studied, discussed and mulled for decades as government officials sluggishly pushed modest standards for achievement, with the notion that a shift from an oil-based economy was something to be dealt with sometime in the future. However, global issues and volatile oil prices have brought isolated Hawaii an immediacy to manage its energy needs and production as much on its own as possible. As happens, businesses have gotten the message and are beginning to drive the machinery. The state has a wealth of agricultural lands, whose value diminished as big crops moved to cheaper locations, but which now appear alluring to BioEnergy partners and hopefully other forward-thinking energy entrepreneurs. Growing feedstock for biofuels would demonstrate that green spaces, greenbacks and a green consciousness can all come together. http://starbulletin.com/2006/07/24/editorial/editorial01.html |
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| July 21, 2006 Isle landowners to check out biofuels: The partners include Maui Land & Pine, Grove Farm and Kamehameha Schools By B.J. Reyes Three of the state's largest landowners are forming a partnership to study the viability of a large-scale biofuels industry in Hawaii. The consortium, known as Hawaii BioEnergy LLC, plans to study the availability of land for growing crops that could be converted to fuels, which crops or feed stock would be most efficient and which technologies would be best for making the conversion. Partners include Maui Land & Pineapple Co., Grove Farm Co. and Kamehameha Schools, which together own about 10 percent of land in the state. The group plans to spend about $1 million over the next six months studying available resources in Hawaii, said David Cole, president and chief executive officer of Maui Land & Pineapple. Biofuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel, are fuels made by converting the biomass in crops such as wheat, corn, soybeans, sugar and their byproducts, including waste material. Such fuels can be made from renewable resources and burn cleaner than fossil fuels such as coal and oil. The partnership was formed "to provide the detailed resources to hire the staff and hire the consultants that are necessary to really begin to seriously talk about how to achieve a higher level of energy security by growing our own fuels," Cole said. "It's a very complex set of dynamics that we need to understand." A progress report is expected in three to four months. Also participating in the partnership is venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems and a well-known renewable energy policy planner, Cole said. Hawaii BioEnergy also has brought in consultants from Brazil, which many advocates say has provided the best example of an ethanol-based economy. Those partners include Brasil Bioenergia and Tarpon Investments, companies with vast experience in Brazil's ethanol industry, Cole said. Other landowners and businesses are expected to be invited to participate later. Meanwhile, the state plans to convene a conference on biofuels on Aug. 22. Gov. Linda Lingle welcomed the formation of Hawaii BioEnergy. The Lingle administration and the Legislature this year have touted their bipartisan effort in coming up with a package of energy initiatives aimed at reducing Hawaii's dependence on imported oil through conservation and the development of alternative and renewable fuels. "These are all large landowners that recognize the importance of biofuels," Lingle said. "It validates what we were talking about throughout the session -- that this is doable and we have the natural resources here in order to be successful and really be a model for the world." The conversion of crops into ethanol has gained the most visibility in Hawaii as a means to develop a renewable fuel and reinvigorate the isles' declining sugar industry. New mandates that began in April require that 85 percent of all gasoline sold in Hawaii contain 10 percent ethanol. Although no ethanol is being produced locally, the first of six proposed plants is expected to come online by the second quarter of 2007, with others following soon after. Those processors are working with sugar companies on Maui and Kauai to secure land for growing the crops that would be used as feed stocks for making ethanol. Rinaldo Brutoco, an energy policy planner and president of a California-based business think tank, says research indicates that Hawaii would need only about 250,000 acres of land devoted to crops for ethanol to replace the roughly 500 million gallons of gasoline used here each year. Cole said the partnership has done initial assessments on the amount of available land that could be dedicated to biofuel crops, but more study is needed. However, he noted that the state has about 480,000 acres of good agricultural land that is undeveloped. "That represents very good agricultural land that's laying fallow at the same time we're importing 90 percent of our fuel and 85 percent of our food," Cole said. "Therefore, let's find a way to get back in the game and live like islanders again." http://starbulletin.com/2006/07/21/business/story01.html |
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| Hawaii's Energy Future (HECO) Hawaii's three largest landowners -- Grove Farm Co., Maui Land & Pineapple Co., and Kamehameha Schools -- formed Hawaii BioEnergy LLC to research the viability of a large-scale biofuels industry in Hawaii. http://www.hawaiisenergyfuture.com/Articles/FAQ.html |
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