Pacific Business News: Hawaii Supreme Court Ruling Gives Hu Honua Biomass Project New Life
The Hawaii Supreme Court decided on Monday to vacate a decision made by the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission that would have effectively ended the Hu Honua biomass project on Hawaii Island. Hu Honua, which has been estimated at 99% completion on the Hamakua Coast at a cost of $500 million by developer Honua Ola Bioenergy, has been given new life with the court’s decision to remand the case back to the PUC because of what it termed the PUC’s “misreading” of the court’s previous intent.
The court ordered the PUC to reopen Docket No. 2017-0122, allowing Hu Honua, a 21.5-megawatt wood-burning facility another chance to make its case to supply energy to Hawaii Electric Light Co.’s grid. “We are grateful for the Hawaii Supreme Court’s unanimous decision today in favor of Honua Ola Bioenergy,” said Warren Lee, president of Honua Ola Bioenergy, in a statement. “We look forward to the opportunity to present data on how Honua Ola will produce much-needed firm, clean, renewable energy, while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions at the PUC’s evidentiary hearing.”
PUC Chair Jay Griffin messaged Pacific Business News on Monday afternoon, “We’re still reviewing the Court’s decision and will develop next steps consistent with the ruling.” In 2017, the PUC had given Hu Honua a waiver from the usual competitive bidding process for energy projects — but environmental group Life of the Land objected that the project’s power purchase agreement had not taken greenhouse gases into account. The Hawaii Supreme Court ultimately agreed with Life of the Land in 2019 and ordered the PUC to give explicit consideration to the reduction of emissions in its amended power purchase agreement for Hu Honua.
Following that decision, the PUC decided not to reissue a competitive bidding waiver to HELCO for Hu Honua, and declined to hold an evidentiary hearing to consider a new power purchase agreement, closing the docket on the project last September.
Honua Ola appealed and found itself back before the Hawaii Supreme Court for arguments in late April.
On Monday, Justice Todd Eddins wrote in the court’s unanimous opinion for Mark Recktenwald, Paula Nakayama, Sabrina McKenna and Michael Wilson that the PUC had overstepped by not giving Hu Honua due process following the court’s order, and that the previous decision addressed the Amended Power Purchase agreement specifically, not the 2017 bidding waiver.
In vacating PUC Order Nos. 37205 and 37306, the court wrote, “As a result, the parties are fixed in the same position they were in following HELCO I: the PUC’s 2017 approval of the Amended PPA remains vacated, the 2017 waiver remains valid and in force, and the PUC, in considering the Amended PPA, remains obligated to follow the instructions we provided in HELCO I.”
Should Hu Honua go ahead, Honua Ola said it has committed to replant more trees than it harvests and has made written agreements for tree planting with the Friends of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and the National Forest Foundation to make the project carbon negative.