State regulators today nixed Hawaiian Electric Co.’s biofuel supply plans for its new Campbell Industrial Park generating unit, saying they were potentially too costly for HECO customers.

The Public Utilities Commission denied HECO’s request for approval of a biodiesel supply contract with Imperium Services LLC., a Mainland company that had originally proposed building a biofuel refinery near the new generating facility but later said it would be supplying the fuel from other sources.
The commission also turned down a request linked to the Imperium contract to have Aloha Petroleum Ltd. store and transport the fuel to the 110 megawatt generating unit.
The PUC said the Imperium contract placed too many additional risks and costs on HECO, which in turn would pass those costs on to its electricity customers. It also criticized the terminal and trucking contract with Aloha Petroleum, saying it was currently unnecessarily.
“The commission remains strongly supportive of biofuels and other renewable energy resources, and in fact, the commission has required use of biofuels in this new generating unit,” said Carlito Caliboso, PUC chairman, in a news release.