WAILUKU, Hawai'i — Two Maui businessmen want to burn eucalyptus trees to generate energy on the Big Island.

Kent Smith and Hilton Unemori, who brought Kaheawa Wind to Maui, formed Hamakua Biomass Energy LLC in February.

The company is preparing an environmental assessment for a low-emission, renewable-fuel generating station to sell power to Hawaii Electric Light Co.

Hamakua Biomass plans to draw on 13,000 acres of mature trees owned by Kamehameha Schools, and planted as part of an earlier, unsuccessful attempt to convert Hamakua Sugar Co. lands into a wood plantation.

They hope to be operating by the end of 2010 or early 2011.

Hamakua Biomass expects to sell its higher-quality wood to a veneer mill, Tradewinds. Less-desirable products would go to the boiler, which the company wants to put about a mile outside 'O'okala, convenient to existing HELCO transmission lines.

The project's initial cost will be "close to $200 million," Smith said last week.

Hawaiian Electric spokesman Peter Rosegg said the company is in "intensive negotiations for a purchase power agreement." A 30-megawatt biomass plant could supply more than 15 percent of local needs.

Molokai Electric Co.'s experiment with kiawe wood in the late 1980s failed. Problems harvesting on rugged terrain contributed to the failure, and eventually Maui Electric took over the utility and went back to using diesel oil.

Smith said it's a plus for Hamakua Biomass to operate on a former sugar plantation. All the infrastructure, including roads, is in place and should make harvesting of logs simple.

By relying on a huge stock of similar trees — planted in rows — the generator operators say they will enjoy both a stable, secure supply and a known quality.

Guy Gilliland, chief executive of Hamakua Biomass, said the oldest trees are 12 years old. Eucalyptus grow to harvestable size in six to eight years.

Wood will be chipped into 3-inch pieces, which will be blown up the combustion chamber, burning and rising in a hot, swirling stream.

Leaves are left behind to help restore the soil. Emissions are low compared with petroleum generators, and low in sulfur.