PUUANAHULU, Hawaii – On Tuesday, BioEnergy Hawaii and the Ulupono Initiative announced a new partnership that will finance a resource recovery facility planned for the west side of Hawaii Island.
BioEnergy Hawaii, LLC, (BEH) describes itself as a designer, developer and operator of waste treatment and alternative energy systems. It has been eyeing up a publicly unspecified site located near the Puuanahulu landfill, where it will accept municipal solid waste delivered by local waste collection companies, diverting “70 percent of it from the West Hawaii Sanitary Landfill.”
BioEnergy Hawaii is owned by Pacific Waste, Inc.
The Ulupono Initiative – a Hawaii-focused impact investing firm with a focus on “locally produced food; clean, renewable energy; and waste reduction” – is entering into a limited partnership with BEH that will share all financial obligations and proceeds of the $50 million facility.
The project will include advanced recycling operations and produce multiple value products from the waste streams: recyclable commodities, organics, and residual solid fuel. Under the BEH approach, recyclables will be recovered and sent to the local recycling commodity market; wet organic waste will be treated through anaerobic digestion to produce fertilizer, compost and energy rich biogas; the solid materials—mixed papers, textiles, low-value plastics and wood—will be processed into a post-recycled engineered fuel.BioEnergy Hawaii media release
“We believe BioEnergy Hawaii’s planned resource recovery facility on the west side of Hawaii Island will substantially divert waste from going to the landfill to instead be used for recycling, compost and conversion of waste into energy,” said Ulupono’s General Partner Kyle Datta in amedia release. “We’ve analyzed the state’s entire waste system across all counties and feel BEH’s integrated technology approach will not only benefit Hawaii County, but has the potential to be applied in other counties as well.”
“We are honored to have a significant investor such as Ulupono Initiative become a full partner in our waste conversion project,” said Kosti Shirvanian, president of BioEnergy Hawaii and Pacific Waste, Inc. “Our missions and values are completely aligned. We are both concerned with the health of our environment as well as the long-term growth and sustainability of Hawaii. Most importantly, we both see waste as a valuable resource.”
In addition to providing resources in capitalization and finance, Ulupono offers BioEnergy Hawaii guidance and support through a system-based model that connects companies within its portfolio of investments. Ulupono is actively involved in ensuring the project is financially viable, sustainable, disciplined and benefits Hawaii County’s waste, energy and agriculture systems. BioEnergy Hawaii media release
BioEnergy Hawaii says the West Hawaii facility will be completely financed with private equity. BEH has the support of a $100 million special purpose revenue bond issued by the State of Hawaii. The exact location of the facility will be released when lease negotiations are final, the companies say. Construction is scheduled to begin during the summer of 2016.
by Big Island Video News
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STORY SUMMARY
On Tuesday, BioEnergy Hawaii and the Ulupono Initiative announced a new partnership that will finance a resource recovery facility planned for the west side of Hawaii Island.