Covanta Completes Expansion of Hawaii Facility

Company says facility will supply 8 percent of Oahu’s power.


Morristown, N.J.-based Covanta Energy Corp. says it has completed the expansion of the H-POWER Energy-from-Waste (EfW) facility, owned by the city and county of Honolulu. Covanta Energy designed, built operates the facility, which is a key component of Honolulu’s solid waste management program. 
 
The expansion added a third boiler, which increases the facility’s capacity by 900 tons of municipal solid waste per day, bringing the facility’s daily capacity to 3,000 tons. The addition of the boiler also allows Covanta to process all of the island’s post-recycled municipal solid waste at the facility, according to the company. The expansion also will enable the facility to produce about 90 megawatts of renewable energy—close to 8 percent of Oahu’s total power needs, Covanta says.
 
“Covanta is proud of our successful partnership with the city and county of Honolulu,” Seth Myones, Covanta executive vice president and COO, says. “The completed third boiler marks three years of hard work by the Covanta team and celebrates the innovative thinking of the city and county in making the decision to move forward with this expansion. The completed project brings a multitude of benefits, including increased diversion of waste from landfills, reduction of greenhouse gases, more renewable energy and new jobs that will make a significant impact on Oahu’s economy and energy independence.”   
 
The completed expansion project marks the commencement of Covanta’s new 20-year operating agreement with the city and county of Honolulu. Covanta began operating the H-POWER facility in 1990.  Since opening the facility, Covanta has processed more than 13 million tons of waste and recovered 450,000 tons of metals for recycling.