Renewable energy plant on Big Island files lawsuit against Hawaiian Electric
Honua Ola Bioenergy on Hawai‘i Island has filed a lawsuit against Hawaiian Electric, claiming the state’s largest power supplier has created a monopoly that has resulted in the renewable energy plant being unable to operate.

According to the lawsuit filed in the 1st District Court on O‘ahu on May 19, Honua Ola Bioenergy, referred to as Hu Honua in the lawsuit, is seeking relief from anticompetitive and other unlawful conduct designed to foreclose competition and restrain trade in the wholesale market for firm power generation. This type of power is provided by biomass, fossil fuel and geothermal facilities on the Big Island.
Hu Honua, which owns a renewable, dispatchable firm energy biomass power plant in Pepe‘ekeo since 2008, is seeking a jury trial in the district court.
“That plant sits idle today because of HECO’s [Hawaiian Electric’s] conduct, even though Hawai‘i Island has an acute need for additional independent generating capacity — and especially renewable firm energy capacity — given the rising risks of power interruptions, blackouts, and outages that have resulted from HECO’s high-handed, monopolistic dominance of the market,” the lawsuit states.
Hawaiian Electric responded to the suit in a statement Wednesday, saying the extensive public record shows “precisely the opposite of what Hu Honua claims.”
“Hawaiian Electric advocated for Hu Honua and signed a contract to buy electricity from the facility, subject to the Public Utilities Commission’s determination that the pricing was reasonable,” power company officials stated. “That contract was rejected by the PUC, which cited the increased cost to customers and elevated greenhouse gas emissions. Hu Honua appealed to the Hawai‘i Supreme Court, which reached the same conclusion in 2023.”
A call for comment to Honua Ola Bioenergy on Wednesday was not returned by press time.
Hawaiian Electric entered into an agreement with Hu Honua in May 2012 for the generation and sale of electricity from the power plant’s renewable, dispatchable firm energy biomass.
Honua Ola Bioenergy would generate renewable and sustainable energy by using locally produced biomass feedstock from eucalyptus crops and invasive species. The plant would also create more than 150 direct and ancillary jobs in the greater Hilo community.
Application for the agreement was initially approved by the state with Hawaiian Electric emphasizing that Hu Honua would help “reduce HECO’s reliance on fossil fuels” and “increase its overall renewable energy portfolio.”
Hawaiian Electric ultimately terminated the agreement because Hu Honua missed certain contractual milestones, according to the lawsuit.
“Terminating the Power Purchase Agreement was a competitively irrational act that sacrificed short-run gains and endangered system reliability; HECO would not have taken that step but for the prospect of obtaining higher profits in the long run from the exclusion of competition as alleged in this complaint,” according to the lawsuit.
Hu Honua filed claims against the power company with the Hawai‘i Supreme Court in November 2016, which alleged violations of federal and state antitrust law, unfair competition under state law, and various other state law claims.
The high court ultimately dismissed Hu Honua’s claims.
Hawaiian Electric serves 95% of the state’s 1.4 million residents on O‘ahu, Maui, Hawai‘i, Lāna‘i and Moloka‘i, with more than 88,000 of those customers living on the Big Island.
According to the lawsuit, Hawaiian Electric’s energy reserve margin has deteriorated and fallen below reliable target levels due to anticompetitive and monopolistic conduct. As a result, the suit states Hawaiian Electric is causing Hawai‘i Island to be beset with energy problems, including rolling blackouts and calls for reduced electricity use by its customers.
In the first few months of 2024, the lack of adequate supply in the wholesale market caused HECO to initiate rolling blackouts multiple times, leaving thousands of customers without power, the lawsuit said.
“The failure of supply to meet customer demand is a hallmark of a monopolized market and is the avoidable and direct result here of HECO’s elimination of competition and reduction of firm power output on Hawaii Island,” the lawsuit states.