AES Hawaii Power Plant is a medium-size coal-fired electrical power station located in the south-west corner of a Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

an island of Oahu

Oahu

Oahu or Oahu , known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast...

. Owned and operated by AES

AES Corporation

AES Corporation is a Fortune 500 company that generates and distributes electrical power. The company was founded on January 28, 1981, as Applied Energy Services by Roger Sant from the US Federal Energy Administration and Dennis Bakke from the Office of Management and Budget. AES Corporation is...

 Hawaii, the plant is the only coal

Coal

Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...

-fired power plant in the state of Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

. AES Hawaii consists of a single unit on the grounds of Campbell Industrial Park, has a year-around capacity of 180 MWe

MWE

MWE may refer to:*Manufacturer's Weight Empty*McDermott Will & Emery*Midwest Express, an airline*Merowe Airport - IATA code*Multiword expressionMWe may refer to:*Megawatt electrical...

, and represents about 11% of Oahu's commercial electricity supply.

Coal supply

AES Hawaii burns approximately 650,000 tons of subbituminous coal each year. The coal is import

Import

The term import is derived from the conceptual meaning as to bring in the goods and services into the port of a country. The buyer of such goods and services is referred to an "importer" who is based in the country of import whereas the overseas based seller is referred to as an "exporter". Thus...

ed from Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

 via a marine terminal

Marine terminal

The term Marine terminal may apply to:* A Berth * A Dock * A Ferry slip* Or even the whole Port* A Wharf...

 at the Barbers Point Harbor. From there, coal is taken to the plant by a 1.6 miles (2.6 km) long conveyor system

Conveyor system

A conveyor system is a common piece of mechanical handling equipment that moves materials from one location to another. Conveyors are especially useful in applications involving the transportation of heavy or bulky materials...

.

Alternate fuel sources

AES operates a relatively clean-burning plant using alternate fuel sources, such as old tires and used motor oil, to help power the plant. The plant also burns carbon from Board of Water Supply filters. In addition, the ash waste product created by AES is used in concrete

Concrete

Concrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water and chemical admixtures.The word concrete comes from the Latin word...

 mixes.

Environmental protection

AES achieves its smoke-free power and low emissions by introducing limestone

Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

 early into the coal-combustion

Combustion

Combustion or burning is the sequence of exothermic chemical reactions between a fuel and an oxidant accompanied by the production of heat and conversion of chemical species. The release of heat can result in the production of light in the form of either glowing or a flame...

 process, filtering out harmful sulfur dioxide

Sulfur dioxide

Sulfur dioxide is the chemical compound with the formula . It is released by volcanoes and in various industrial processes. Since coal and petroleum often contain sulfur compounds, their combustion generates sulfur dioxide unless the sulfur compounds are removed before burning the fuel...

 early on and lessening pollution. Most coal plants use industrial scrubber

Scrubber

Scrubber systems are a diverse group of air pollution control devices that can be used to remove some particulates and/or gases from industrial exhaust streams. Traditionally, the term "scrubber" has referred to pollution control devices that use liquid to wash unwanted pollutants from a gas stream...

s to remove harmful pollutants late in the combustion process, which is much less efficient.

External links

• Aerial photo of the plant (near the center of the lower-left quadrant) and the surrounding Campbell Industrial Park area.
• http://state.hi.us/dot/harbors/oahu/barbers.gifMap of Barbers Point Harbor and the coal conveyor by Hawaii DOT
  Hawaii Department of Transportation
  The Hawaii Department of Transportation is a state government organization which oversees transportation in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The agency is divided into three divisions dealing with aviation, maritime, and roads.-Airports Division:...
  
  .]