The principal investor of Hu Honua Bioenergy LLC is still committed to the Hawaii island project that Hawaiian Electric Co. dropped.
On March 1, HECO subsidiary Hawaii Electric Light Co. allowed its contract with Hu Honua Bioenergy to end.
Hu Honua was building a 30-megawatt power station on Hawaii island that would convert biomass into electricity.
The utility said it is in the best interest of customers to terminate the contract with Hu Honua because the company failed to meet deadlines and provide assurances that it can be relied upon as a renewable generation provider for the Big Island.
Jennifer Johnson, the principal investor in Hu Honua Bioenergy and co-president of Franklin Resources Inc., said she is “very committed” and hopeful the project will move forward. Johnson and her family own 90 percent of Hu Honua.
“We are optimistic,” Johnson said. “The best thing for us to do is to work with Hawaiian Electric and figure out the best path forward. … We had a lot of starts and stops on this project, and they wanted to make sure we are credible.”
Hu Honua said the plant can be operational in 2017 if work can resume in the near future. More than $130 million has been invested in the Hu Honua facility, with the project approximately 50 percent complete. Johnson said Hu Honua would deliver enough energy to power 14,000 homes.
Hu Honua said the project would provide more than 200 local construction jobs at peak and employ 30 permanent workers to operate it.
More than 150 jobs will also be generated in forestry and ancillary services.
“It creates a new industry on the island of Hawaii,” Johnson said. “The types of jobs here are technical jobs. We are willing to invest to build the expertise on the island.”
Johnson also announced three new members of the Hu Honua team.
John Komeiji, general counsel and senior vice president of Hawaiian Telcom, is joining the company’s board of directors.
To its local advisory board, Hu Honua added Duane Kurisu, chairman and CEO of Aio LLC, and Dennis Teranishi, president and CEO of the Pacific International Center for High Technology Research. The center is the parent nonprofit of Energy Excelerator, an incubator for energy technology startups.
