[samatman]

Lots of answers about various renewables, no one addressing why diesel, so let me throw that in:

Everything comes to Hawaii by boat or plane, and boats run on diesel. So our power plants burn diesel, instead of coal, because coal, while cheaper per unit energy, would be a whole additional supply chain just for power plants.

And yeah, there's more solar and wind every year, but not nearly enough to provide the overprovisioning and storage necessary to use it for baseline power.

[gonzo]

The plants on Oahu, where most of the population lives, burn heavy fuel oil and trash.

The other islands burn diesel, from the refinery on Oahu.

The ships also burned heavy fuel oil until this year.

[Scoundreller]

> would be a whole additional supply chain just for power plants.

This isn't an issue. There are coal ships, coal trains, coal trucks, you name it. Storage is easier too, you just dump it.

[stevenwoo]

It requires two dumps, one for fuel and one for fly ash with containment - the latter is usually huge.