Hamakua Energy Plant

🛢 OilIPP Non-CHP66 MW capacity

15th largest plant in Hawaii · 3243rd nationally

Hamakua Energy Plant is a oil power plant in Hawaii with a nameplate capacity of 66.0 MW. It generates roughly 267.4k MWh per year — enough to power about 25,465 average U.S. homes.

Its capacity factor of 46% puts it in the middle range — running steadily but not full-time. At 965 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits above the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.

PeakingMid-meritBaseload0%40%80%100%46%
Mid-merit — steady but not full-time

Month by month in 2024

100% capacity0Jan: 18.4k MWh (37% of capacity)JFeb: 12.0k MWh (27% of capacity)FMAMJun: 4.5k MWh (9% of capacity)JJul: 5.3k MWh (11% of capacity)JAug: 4.0k MWh (8% of capacity)ASep: 4.0k MWh (8% of capacity)SOct: 7.6k MWh (16% of capacity)ONov: 3.5k MWh (7% of capacity)NDec: 3.3k MWh (7% of capacity)D

Ghost bars are each month's theoretical maximum (66.0 MW nameplate × hours in the month). Filled bars are actual net generation reported to EIA Form 923. The gap between them is capacity factor made visible.

Capacity66 MWnameplate
Annual Generation267.4k MWhEPA eGRID
Capacity Factor46%of theoretical max
Annual CO₂129.0kmetric tons

Location

Plant NameHamakua Energy Plant
OperatorHamakua Energy Lp
CityHonokaa
CountyHawaii County
StateHawaii
ZIP96727
Coordinates20.09390, -155.47110

This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.

OilWindSolarBattery Storage

Generators (3)

IDTechnologyFuelCapacityStatusOnline
CT1Petroleum LiquidsWO23.0 MWOperating2000
CT2Petroleum LiquidsWO23.0 MWOperating2000
ST1Petroleum LiquidsWO20.0 MWOperating2000

Emissions (annual)

CO₂129.0k metric tons
SO₂75 metric tons
NOₓ621 metric tons
CO₂ Rate965 lb/MWh
U.S. grid average800 lb/MWhNatural gas combined-cycle average900 lb/MWhThis plant965 lb/MWhCoal plant average2,100 lb/MWh

Annual totals and CO₂ rate reported by EPA eGRID for 2023. Reference averages are approximate U.S.-wide figures from the same dataset.

About Oil plants

Oil-fired plants typically run only during peak demand or grid emergencies because oil is expensive compared to gas and coal. They have the highest CO₂ emissions per MWh of any common generation technology.

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