W H Hill

🛢 OilElectric Utility37 MW capacity

24th largest plant in Hawaii · 4004th nationally

W H Hill is a oil power plant in Hawaii with a nameplate capacity of 37.1 MW. It generates roughly 133.4k MWh per year — enough to power about 12,701 average U.S. homes.

Its capacity factor of 41% puts it in the middle range — running steadily but not full-time. At 2242 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits above the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.

PeakingMid-meritBaseload0%40%80%100%41%
Mid-merit — steady but not full-time

Month by month in 2024

100% capacity0Jan: 15.1k MWh (55% of capacity)JFeb: 10.9k MWh (44% of capacity)FMar: 13.1k MWh (48% of capacity)MApr: 11.8k MWh (44% of capacity)AMay: 8.7k MWh (31% of capacity)MJun: 7.4k MWh (28% of capacity)JJul: 7.8k MWh (28% of capacity)JAug: 2.4k MWh (9% of capacity)ASep: 4.6k MWh (17% of capacity)SOct: 8.4k MWh (30% of capacity)ONov: 7.4k MWh (28% of capacity)NDec: 7.9k MWh (29% of capacity)D

Ghost bars are each month's theoretical maximum (37.1 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.

Capacity37 MWnameplate
Annual Generation133.4k MWhEPA eGRID
Capacity Factor41%of theoretical max
Annual CO₂149.5kmetric tons

Location

Plant NameW H Hill
OperatorHawaii Electric Light Co Inc
CityHilo
CountyHawaii County
StateHawaii
ZIP96720
Coordinates19.70410, -155.06070

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

OilHydroelectricSolarBiomassGeothermal

Generators (2)

IDTechnologyFuelCapacityStatusOnline
6Petroleum LiquidsResidual Oil23.0 MWOperating1974
5Petroleum LiquidsResidual Oil14.1 MWOperating1965

Emissions (annual)

CO₂149.5k metric tons
SO₂1.6k metric tons
NOₓ288 metric tons
CO₂ Rate2242 lb/MWh
U.S. grid average800 lb/MWhNatural gas combined-cycle average900 lb/MWhCoal plant average2,100 lb/MWhThis plant2,242 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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