Life of the Land Hawai`i


Hawai`i Biomass-to-Energy (BTE) Facilities Planned
Hawaiian Mahogany Company, Inc. (Bill Cowern of Lawa‘i, Kaua`i) leases 3,600 acres, including land owned by the Knudsen family and Grove Farm. The company has planted more than 600,000  Eucalyptus trees  (used for wood products) inter-planted with Albizia (which produces nitrogen which reduces the need for fertilizers). Albezia can be used to make  energy, lumber, organic fertilizer, biofuels.

Green Energy Hawaii will purchase woodchips and biomass from Hawaiian Mahogany Company as feedstock for a  7.5 megawatt Biomass-To-Energy (BTE) gasification/thermal oxidation facility in which wood chips are slowly heated until volatile gases are released into an oxygen deprived environment.

Cambium Global Timberland Ltd. of Australia has bought the lease to 6,100 acres of Kamehameha Schools land in Pahala, Kau, Big Island.  Timber will be sold to Tradewinds Forest Products LLC. Log haul trucks would carry the logs 80 miles to a new mill and power plant in Ookala, Hamakua and then the finished wood would be shipped 40 miles to the Hilo port. Tradewinds will not purchase eucalyptus trees from Kamehameha Schools 30,500 acre Hamakua tract. HELCO has  signed an agreement with Tradewinds to buy from 2 to 3.6 megawatts from the mill. Small renewable energy power plants (0-5 MW) are exempt from Chapter 343 (Environmental Impact Statements).

Bioenergy Systems of Hawai`i (James Loux)  proposes a wattle-to-energy facility utilizing dead wattle (an invasive species) from the Haleakala Ranch, the state Kula Forest Reserve, Ulupalakua Ranch and the West Maui Mountain Watershed Partnership. The electricity produced would be sold to MECO at the same price MECO produces electricity from petroleum, resulting in no savings to ratepayers.