Power Struggle: A Major Source Of Air Pollution On Oahu Is Also Keeping The Lights On … A new proposal to keep the electric plant operating is drawing strong opposition from clean-energy advocates.
The owners of Oahu’s large coal-burning electric plant now want to switch to burning wood pellets instead of shutting the plant down as scheduled next year.
AES Hawaii submitted its request to Hawaii utility regulators last week as part of a proceeding exploring ways to deal with the closing of AES’s Barbers Point Coal Plant, which is scheduled to shut down in September 2022.
Shuttering the coal-burning plant poses a considerable challenge for Oahu’s power utility, Hawaiian Electric, as well as public utility regulators and supporters of Hawaii’s mandate to wean the state from using fossil fuel to produce electricity by 2045.
