Setback wont halt Hawaiian biodiesel facility plan

The Public Utility Commission (PUC) in Hawaii has turned down a second attempt by a local biodiesel producer to supply product to a power plant.

Honolulu-based Aina Koa Pono reportedly wants approval to sell around 16 million gallons of biofuel a year to Hawaii Electric Light on a 20 year contract via a proposed new $450 million (€330 million) facility.

But the PUC ruled at the end of 2013 that the deal’s cost was ‘excessive, not cost-effective and not in the public interest’.

A senior member of Aina Koa Pono has been quoted that, despite this setback, plans for the new production plant will ‘move forward’.