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Energy, Environment

    In the spring of 1982, HC&S completed installation of a new 15,000-kilowatt turbogenerator at Puunene. This increased electricity production, from burning bagasse (cane fiber), to 215 million kilowatt hours per year. A new 500-kwh hydroelectric station also was installed that year near the Wailoa forebay above Paia. It produces 2.2 million kwh annually. Power not used on the plantation is sold to Maui Electric Company.


    In 1985 and 1987, HC&S installed two "wet scrubbers" at boilers of its Paia and Puunene factories. This investment in air quality cost more than $1 million. The scrubbers remove particulate matter (dirt and bagasse fly ash) from flue gas as it leaves the boilers. In the process, gas is forced into contact with water spray. After the gas and water mixture separates, gas goes up and out the stack as a temporarily visible plume of water vapor, and the remaining water is recycled.


    In 1988, HC&S installed a network of 11 (now 16) automated weather stations to assist in planning cane field burning locations and timing. With information provided by the network, the inconvenience of cane burning is now minimized in nearby communities.

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