By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser KauaÎi Bureau
LIHU‘E, Kaua‘i — A site for a wind farm could be selected within two months, though the project faces at least two years of going through the permit process and actual construction, said Kaua‘i Winds President Rick Koebbe.
Koebbe, with headquarters in Boise, Idaho, runs four large wind-power fields with 920 turbines in California. He said he is discussing Kaua‘i sites with several owners of large properties, but would not identify the specific locations.
"The best wind speeds are found on the north and south sides of the island, and we’re looking for local topographical effects that accelerate the winds," Koebbe said. He feels that average wind speeds of 16 to 17 mph are needed for such power production to make sense.
While there have been wind farms on O‘ahu, Moloka‘i and Hawai‘i, and new ones proposed on Maui and Hawai‘i, the Kaua‘i Winds project, if approved, would be the island’s first. Koebbe has several hoops through which he must jump, including settling on a location, getting Public Utilities Commission approval and various county and state permits, and eventually constructing the plant. His earliest estimate for an operational plant is mid-2003.
Kaua‘i Winds has reached agreement with Kaua‘i Electric, which will buy all the power the firm can produce at a price of 7.4 cents per kilowatt-hour. David Morgan, Kaua‘i Electric’s production manager, said that’s below what it now costs his company to generate a kilowatt-hour — approximately 8.5 cents.
Kaua‘i Electric’s proposed contract with the wind generator has been filed with the PUC.
Under the proposal, the utility would pay 7.4 cents per kilowatt-hour for a wind plant generating up to 5.4 megawatts. Koebbe said that if Kaua‘i Electric agrees, he might increase the output of the wind farm to 10 megawatts. At that size, the rate paid by the utility would drop to 6.5 cents per kilowatt-hour.
Koebbe expects to use no more than six to 11 turbines, each capable of producing 900 kilowatts.
He is aware of the possible objections to wind farms, including their impact on views and potential hazard to birds in flight. He said he has reviewed known flyways of species such as the endangered Newell’s shearwater and anticipates avoiding those areas.
"Probably the view issue is the biggest issue," he said. Each turbine would have a rotor diameter of about 170 feet on a tower about 150 feet tall.
On Kaua‘i, an additional concern is the impact of a significant wind operation on the island’s attraction to movie companies looking for a natural setting.
"The film industry is a big thing on this island," said Alton Miyamoto, the utility’s manager for strategic planning.
But to the degree that visual impacts can be minimized, Miyamoto said he is hopeful of support from many of the interests that have fought Kaua‘i Electric when it has proposed the development of new oil-fired generating units at its proposed Lihu‘e Energy Service Center.
Miyamoto said: "I would like to believe that the people who were beating on us whenever we were working on things like the energy service center will be saying, ‘Way to go!’"
Kaua‘i Electric Manager Denny Polosky said the utility is eager to find new sources of renewable energy, since it is losing its main resource in that category, the bagasse-fired Lihu‘e Plantation power plant. The plantation has gone out of business and although the power plant is available to the utility, its primary fuel source now is oil.
Polosky said that as a result of the change at the plantation power plant, Kaua‘i’s percentage of renewable power will drop from 16 percent of the utility’s total last year to 6 percent this year.
Previous proposals to develop power with renewable sources — notably hydroelectric generation in Wailua basin and on the north shore — have been rejected by the agencies in charge of issuing permits or were dropped by the companies that outlined such plans. Polosky said such setbacks have frustrated Kaua‘i Electric’s efforts to reduce its dependence on oil.
Koebbe said that while wind power might not have been cost-competitive in years past, it is now one of the cheapest sources of power available. Its drawback is that it is available only when the wind is blowing, so utilities need fuel-powered backup.
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