Hawaii
Energy Policy Forum > 2003
Articles
HECO Web site identifies areas for wind farms
By Diana Leone
Honolulu Star-Bulletin
Saturday, May 24, 2003
Hawaiian Electric Co.'s Web site now includes new wind
resource maps
of Oahu to help identify the best sites for future wind farms.
The maps detail which way winds blow on Oahu -- and how powerfully,
according to Karl Stahlkopf, HECO senior vice president for
energy
solutions.
"
They were done with some very good technology that's been
developed
in the last three or four years," he said. "Existing
wind-resource
maps for Hawaii were developed over 20 years ago."
High-resolution
wind-resource maps for Oahu, Maui, Molokai, and Lanai
can be seen at renewables.heco.com .
HECO, the state Department
of Business, Economic Development and
Tourism and the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable
Energy
Laboratory funded development of the maps. Maps of Kauai
and the Big
Island are expected within months, Stahlkopf said.
Posted
on the Web site are color-coded maps that estimate wind speeds
and power densities of the wind at a height of 165 feet from
the
ground.
On Oahu, high-wind speeds were at Kahuku and on the
ridgelines of the
Pali and Waianae mountain ranges, but one pocket of high-wind
speeds
was unexpected.
"
Makakilo looks like it has significant wind resources," Stahlkopf
said. "We really didn't know that resource was there."
Meanwhile,
HECO's subsidiary, Renewable Hawaii, is seeking proposals
for renewable energy projects on Oahu using solar, wind,
hydro,
biomass, ocean or geothermal energy to produce electricity.
Renewable
Hawaii has $10 million to invest as a minority partner in
ventures
that meet its requirements, said Stahlkopf, who is the sole
employee
of the subsidiary.
"
We want to help the state of Hawaii increase the amount of
electricity generated from renewable resources as quickly
as
possible," he said.
The deadline for Oahu proposals is
Aug. 22. Projects on other islands
will be solicited later. Information about making a proposal
is
available at http://www.renewablehawaii.com .
Stahlkopf can
be reached at 543-7656.© 2003 Honolulu
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