HECO says "disappointed" as Hawaii PUC blocks 16 million gallon biofuels deal

In Hawaii, Hawaiian Electric Co. expressed its disappointment in the state Public Utilities Commission’s decision to deny its biofuel supply contract with Aina Koa Pono. The PUC stated that the contract price for the project is “excessive, not cost-effective and, thus, is unreasonable and inconsistent with the public interest.”

Aina Koa Pono’s $400 million project to produce biofuel from crops grown on 13,000 acres in Kau on the Big Island was to have provided HECO with 16 million gallons of biofuel a year over a 20-year period.