Study assessing lands suitable for algae production in Hawai'i now available online

Algae have high productivity rates, the ability to grow in a wide range of water qualities, and the potential to be produced on land unsuitable for food production. Interest in algae-based biofuel production provided motivation to conduct an assessment of land suitable for algae production in Hawai'i. See the full report: Analysis of Land Suitable for Algae Production: State of Hawaii (19 MB). For further information, please contact Scott Turn.

HNEI researcher leads $1 million sustainability research project on water, energy, and soil sustainability

Michael J. Cooney, Associate Researcher at HNEI, is leader for a cross campus collaborative team that won the recent $1 million University-wide Sustainability competition with a project aimed at developing and placing water, energy, and soil sustainability technologies in local industry. This will be a two-year effort involving faculty from HNEI, CTHAR, Shidler College of Business, Oceanography, and local companies such as Pacific Biodiesel and RealGreen Power. Read more about it in the Biofuels project news item or contact Michael Cooney for more information.

O'ahu Wind Integration Study now available online

In partnership with the Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) and General Electric Company, HNEI studied the impacts to the HECO grid of integrating 400 MW of wind power from Molokai and Lanai supplied through an undersea cable combined with 100 MW of wind and 100 MW of solar power located on O'ahu. The study showed HECO can reliably integrate this power and supply 25% of O'ahu's electricity from these sources if several recommendations for upgrades to the HECO grid and requirements for the wind projects are followed. The electricity supplied from these sources would reduce Hawai'i's fossil fuel consumption by approximately 2.8 million barrels of low sulfur fuel oil and 132,000 tons of coal each year. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) organized a technical review committee of U.S. and world experts in large-scale integration of wind power that met throughout the study to provide technical expertise and review of results.
See the O'ahu Wind Integration Study for the full report. For further information, please contact Jay Griffin.

HNEI announces the creation of a new, separate website regarding the Hawai‘i National Marine Renewable Energy Center (HINMREC)

The HINMREC is primarily funded by the Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy Office of the US Department of Energy (DOE), through a five-year (2009-2014) contract recently awarded to the Hawai’i Natural Energy Institute. The website for this center can be accessed at http://hinmrec.hnei.hawaii.edu. Contact Luis A. Vega for more information.

Great Wave off Kanagawa by K. Hokusai (1832)

Hawaii Bioenergy Master Plan Project Final Report - Available Online

The Hawaii Bioenergy Master Plan Project Final Report, prepared by HNEI for the State of Hawaii under contract to the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, has been completed. The project was established under Act 253, SLH 2007. The Final Report is available at the project website.

HNEI to explore use of Flash Carbonization™ technology to produce charcoal from Honolulu sewage sludge

Flash Carbonization™ tests of Honolulu’s sewage sludge are being sponsored at HNEI to help eliminate smoke emissions from the Flash Carbonization™ Demonstration Reactor, reduce CO emissions to satisfy regulations, and to produce sewage sludge charcoal for various market studies. Read more about Biocarbons (charcoal). Contact Michael Antal for more information.

National Science Foundation awards Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (I/U CRC) grant to HNEI, focused on Bioenergy

The Center for BioEnergy Research and Development is a consortium of six universities (South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, South Dakota State University, Kansas State University, State University of New York Stony Brook, North Carolina State University, and University of Hawaii) funded by the NSF I/U CRC program. Each member of the consortium has also secured cost-shared participation by industrial members as required by the I/U CRC program. For more information on the membership or programs contact Scott Turn.

HNEI team wins $7 million DOE energy modernization project

UH’s Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, in cooperation with General Electric, Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc., Maui Electric Company, Columbus Electric Cooperative, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Sentech, and UPC Wind, will explore the management of distribution system resources for improved service quality and reliability, transmission congestion relief, and grid support functions. The 3-year project will be deployed at the Maui Lani Substation on Maui and will also involve $8 million in non-federal funding. See the State of Hawaii news release. Contact Terry Surles or Richard Rocheleau for more information.

HNEI partners with mainland company to win DOE Small Business Innovation Research grant for biodiesel production

HNEI's Dr. Michael Cooney has partnered with Community Fuel's Chris Guay to investigate the heterotrophic production of biodiesel from yeast and microalgae (see photo of Chlorella prototheocoides microalgae on the right). In addition to culture techniques, Dr. Cooney and Guay are interested in novel solvent technologies for the direct transesterification of biodiesel from microbial cells. Contact Michael Cooney for more information.