Please also see these documents:
Analysis of Renewable
Portfolio Options for Hawaii (2001)
and Appendix 1: Update of Selected Cost and
Performance Estimates (2000)
Original Renewable Energy
Resource Assessment (1995)
(future projects, feasibility,
costs)
There are five major wind power stations currently in the state of Hawaii. Together these facilities have a combined generation capacity of over 18 megawatts. A brief discussion of the general features and history of each of these sites are provided. Table 2 is a summary of the capacities of these windfarms.
The Kahua Ranch windfarm is the oldest operating wind facility in the state, and the first windfarm on the Big Island. It was developed between 1983 and 1985 and originally consisted of 198 Jacobs 17.5 kW wind turbines. This site on the crest of the Kohala Mountains on the northern tip of the Big Island was financed by a group of private investors based in Hawaii called the Wind Power Pacific Investors. This group eventually evolved into Renewable Energy Ventures, which itself became a wholly owned subsidiary of Earth Energy Systems Inc., a subsidiary of Control Data Corporation which is a Minneapolis-based manufacturer of computer products. In March 1987, the windfarm was purchased by Hawaiian Electric Renewable Systems (HERS) which is the wholly-owned subsidiary of Hawaiian Electric Industries, a diversified electric utility holding company that owns the Hawaiian Electric Company and its subsidiaries, Maui Electric Company and Hawaii Electric Light Company. Lalamilo Ventures, Inc. (also purchased by HERS in 1987) then became responsible for the operation and maintenance of the Kahua Ranch.
Problems with the performance of these turbines have been attributed to poor project design, and many of these turbines have now been disassembled. There are now only 17 machines at the facility, although maintenance problems are preventing all of these from operating. Prior to Hawaiian Electric Industries sale of HERS in 1993, the ownership of these operating turbines was turned over to Kahua Ranch Limited, the owner of the land on which the turbines are located.
In 1986, the state of Hawaii (with cost sharing from a battery manufacturer and an electronic control company) also built a Wind Energy Storage Test (WEST) Facility on another location at the Kahua Ranch. Research at this facility was performed by the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute (HNEI) of the University of Hawaii. A half dozen 25 kW wind turbines were donated to HNEI and three of them were installed at the WEST facility between 1988 to 1990. In April 1992, tests at the WEST facility were taken over by the Pacific International Center for High Technology Research (PICHTR), and the name of the site was changed to the Renewable Energy and Storage Test (REST) facility. PICHTR research at this facility was associated with the Wind/Pumped-Hydro Integration and Test program and the development of Renewable Hybrid Village Power Systems. As the orginal three wind turbines installed at this facility are out of production, only one turbine has been kept in operation by using spare parts from the other two turbines. This single 25 kW Carter turbine supplies power to the Kahua Ranch Facilities.
The development at Lalamilo Wells was the second major installation financed by Wind Power Pacific Investors (mentioned above) and developed by Renewable Energy Ventures. The wind power station commenced operation in 1985 and consists of 39 turbines rated at 17.5 kW and 83 turbines rated at 20 kW. At that time, Lalamilo Ventures was formed as a subsidiary of the Control Data Corporation to operate the Lalamilo Wells wind power station. In 1987, HERS acquired Lalamilo Ventures, and this group then became responsible for the operation and maintenance of both Lalamilo Wells and Kahua Ranch. As of 1997, the capacity of the facility was 1.78 MW.
Until the end of 1996, Lalamilo Ventures had a contract with the Hawaii County Department of Water Supply to provide power at a rate 25 percent less than the rate charged by the island's utility for power. In addition to this contract, Lalamilo Ventures has a purchase power contract with the utility on the Big Island for periods when the Department of Water Supply cannot use their wind generated power. The total wind kWh production data included in statistics in this project tabulated in this document include both the power delivered to the Department of Water Supply as well as the island's utility.
Prior to the Hawaiian Electric Industries sale of HERS in 1993, the ownership of Lalamilo Ventures was changed so that Lalamilo Ventures was a subsidiary of Hawaiian Electric Industries (HEI). In December, 1996, the assets of the wind farm were turned over to the Hawaii Electric Light Company, itself a subsidiary of HEI. Another subsidiary of HEI, Pacific Energy Consevation Services actually operates this wind farm.
This project at the southern tip of the Big Island was developed by Kamaoa Wind Energy Partners, which is jointly owned by Imua Kamakani Corporation of Hawaii and the California corporation of Kamakani Ikaika Inc. This windfarm was built on 100 acres of cattle range land and consists of 37 Mitsubishi wind turbine generators, each with a 250 kW generation capacity, and officially went on-line in June of 1987. Special Purpose Tax Free Revenue bonds worth $11 million secured by the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan were issued by the state of Hawaii to finance the construction and equipment cost of this project. The energy production for this windfarm has been about half of what was originally projected. In October, 1994, this project was sold to Apollo Energy Corporation of California.
In 1978, the Kahuku Point area of Oahu was chosen as a site for one of the four federally sponsored MOD-OA wind turbines. The MOD-OA turbine was rated at 200 kW and had a rotor diameter of 125 feet. The Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) operated and maintained this turbine from May 1980 to June 1982. When it was dismantled in 1983, it had generated 1,261,000 kWh of energy.
Following the successful performance of the MOD-OA project, HECO was eager to continue its involvement with wind power. The holding company of HECO, Hawaiian Electric Industries, formed HERS as a wholly owned subsidiary for the ownership and operation of the new windfarm at Kahuku. By December of 1985, the Makani Moa'e (trade wind) windfarm was operational and its 15 Westinghouse 600 kW turbines began delivering power to Oahu.
In August 1987, HERS acquired Makani Ho'olapa (active wind along the ridges), also known as the 3,200 kW MOD-5B, which is the world's largest operating horizontal-axis wind turbine. It was installed adjacent the Makani Moa'e site and has a blade diameter of 320 feet. The MOD-5B was the last of the federally sponsored wind turbines and was built for the U.S. Department of Energy by the Boeing Aerospace Company, under the project management of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
On October 6, 1992, the Board of Directors of Hawaiian Electric Industries ratified a plan to exit the non utility wind energy business because of chronic mechanical problems with its wind turbines and continuing losses from operations. New World Power purchased all HERS stock in early 1993, and under the new name of Makani Uwila (electric wind) Power Company refurbished equipment at the former Makani Moa'e and Makani Ho'olapa sites. This restoration reduced the capacity of Makani Moa'e to 8 operating 600 kW turbines, with components from the remaining units on site being devoted to the facility's spare parts inventory. The capacity was further reduced in the summer of 1995, when a fire destroyed one of these eight turbines.
At the end of 1996, Campbell Estates, the landlord of this property, foreclosed on this site and took over ownership of these wind machines.
Hawaii Energy Developers projects number I, II, and III consisted of twelve ESI-54 wind turbines installed in the Kahuku Point area of Oahu. These turbines were rated at 50 kW each and installed in 1982 and intermittently operated until 1986 when both the developer and the turbine manufacture went bankrupt.
Kohala Mountain Wind Energy Investors installed two small wind energy projects in Hawaii between 1982 and 1983. One project consisted of six 25 kW turbines near the Kahua Ranch site on the Big Island. Once this project ceased operation, the turbines were donated to the REST facility that operated on the Kahua Ranch. The other project consisted of four 25 kW turbines on Oahu's Kahuku Point. This project also ceased operation due to financial difficulties.
On Maui, the Maalaea wind power station consisted of a single Danish Wind Technology turbine model Windane-31 rated at 340 kW. The project developed by Danish Pacific Windpower went on line in 1984 and was originally privately owned. Following the death of the owner, Maui Electric Company bought the turbine in 1989. After severe structural problems were discovered, the turbine was dismantled in 1991. Statistics regarding the annual power production of this unit are included in the data reported in this document.
In February 1992, a wind-diesel project funded via Zond Pacific, Inc. and DBEDT moneys from the Petroleum Violation Escrow funds delegated to Hawaii by the USDOE, began operating on the Molokai Ranch, near Moomomi. The system consisted of three 100 kW wind turbines (Vestas Models V-17) and one 100 kW diesel generator. The original purpose of this project was to collect data over a one year period to demonstrate the reliable remote operation of wind power on Molokai's grid and to assess the performance of wind-diesel systems for water pumping in Hawaii. During the two years of this system's operation, the total system availability exceeded 96 percent, and it performed with lifetime capacity factor of 29 percent. Unfortunately, a lightning strike seriously damaged the remote control instrumentation at this facility at the end of 1993, and operations ceased. Total wind kWh production data reported in this document for this project exclude any contributions made by the system's diesel generator.
The state of Hawaii has taken advantage of an opportunity to become involved with a nationwide Photovoltaics for Utility Scale Application (PVUSA) Project. This project was launched in 1986 with the primary goals of assessing photovoltaic technologies in a utility setting and to transfer photovoltaic technology knowledge to the U.S. utilities. The Hawaii system was installed near Kihei, Maui inside the U.S. Air Force Satellite Tracking compound, also known as the Antenna Farm located above the Maui Research and Technology Park.
The system installation was completed in October of 1989, and consists of 1,210 tandem-junction (two-layer) thin-film amorphous silicon modules (total area of 497 m2) interconnected to the utility via a line-commutated inverter and has no storage facilities. The rated capacity of the system is 17.6 kW (ac), but it has achieved a maximum power output of 21.3 kW. The system produces power that is used by the island's electric utility.
Another grid connected PV application in the state which was initiated by the Hawaii Electric Light Company (HELCO) received a TEAM UP award from the Utility Photovoltaic Group (UPVG). This project involved the installation in December, 1995 of a 15 kW(ac) grid connected commercial roof top application on the County gymnasium in Kailua-Kona. This system feeds energy back into the HELCO grid, and even though it is on the roof of a county owned building, it is a HELCO owned and operated generation device. The intent of this project is to provide an opportunity to evaluate building integrated PV systems and the application of PV as a demand side management (DSM) technique for commercial buildings, as well as to determine any potential distributed generation benefits.
The components installed were provided by the PowerLight Corporation of Berkeley, California. The PV modules are attached to Styrofoam® tiles that provide additional thermal insulation to the roof of the building. The modules used are rated at 285 watts, and three 6 KW Omnion inverters are employed at this installation. This particular application covers approximately one quarter of the roof area and costs about $145,000, not counting the data acquisition equipment. UPVG provided $60,000 for this project.
Numbers that represent the precise penetration of small non-grid connected photovoltaics systems in Hawaii are not available. The largest wholesale distributor of photovoltaic equipment in the state estimates that some where between 25 to 50 percent of the photovoltaic equipment in Hawaii was purchased via mail order catalogs, meaning that there is no central depository of information on exactly how many systems are operating in the state. However, even though definitive data are lacking, there is general agreement that the bulk of the photovoltaic systems in the state are located on the Big Island. Estimates of the number of households that use some form of photovoltaic systems range from about one thousand to five thousand. No attempt was made to represent the non grid connected photovoltaic systems in any of the statistics tabulated in this report.
Since 1976, the state of Hawaii has attempted to encourage the residential and commercial use of solar water heating by offering various income tax credits to people who installed such devices. The actual rate of this credit has varied over time, but the cumulative effect of this policy has resulted in approximately 60,000 solar water heaters currently operating in the state as of 1994. Estimates have been made of the reduction in electrical power consumption (in kWh) that is directly attributable to the operation of these water heaters. Statistics from the Hawaii Department of Taxation as well as customer survey data from the state's electrical utilities have been combined to generate annual savings for every island in the state. Details of the assumption and the methodology employed in these calculations are provided in Appendix A.
Solar thermal energy is used conspicuously in one particular commercial venture, Hawaiian Solar Dried Fruit of Rainbow Harvest Inc. This business in Pahoa on the Big Island specializes in drying tropical fruit using solar energy. The process plant has several large solar dryers, but records at this plant do not accommodate a detailed accounting of the energy used at the facility since it commenced operation in 1979. Estimates based on the company's production output indicate that the annual solar energy used is probably equivalent to the energy content in 50 to 100 barrels of fuel oil. (The estimate of this facility's use of solar energy is not included in the tabulated statistics presented in this report.)
Solar thermal energy has also made significant contributions to the public housing sector. In August, 1991, installation was completed on one of the largest residential solar water heating systems in the nation located at the Mayor Wright Homes public housing project in the Liliha neighborhood of Honolulu. This system consisted of 780 solar panels on the project's 35 buildings and was paid for on a 50-50 cost share basis by the federal and state governments. This system has reduced the hot water heating costs by more than half for the 2,400 residents of this housing project.
The United States Navy has 29 Navy neighborhoods for its personnel stationed in Hawaii. Recent upgrades of these units have included the utilization of solar water heaters. Within the next five years, at least 1,100 more of these houses will be revitalized with packages that include solar water heaters.
In 1996, HECO announced a $36 million program to encourage the use of solar water heaters. The goal is to promote the installation of 20,000 new solar water heaters in order to reduce energy consumption and the construction of expensive new power plants. HECO will provide $800 rebates for each new solar thermal system installed. Funds for these refunds will be raised by a electric customer surcharge amounting to approximately $2 per month for a typical family on Oahu.
Biomass, especially the burning of bagasse, has always been an important part of Hawaii's energy supply. It is currently the largest source of Hawaii's renewable energy, and the generating capacity of facilities that consume biomass to produce electricity once exceeded 229 megawatts. However, the current downturn in the sugar industry could has resulted in the retirement of over almost half of this biomass generating capacity over the pass few years.
There were approximately 144 megawatts of electrical generating capacity in 1995 supplied by Hawaii's sugar company facilities. Sugar company mills use bagasse from sugar cane to provide both the thermal energy required for their processes and the generation of electricity for plantation use as well as for sales to the local electric utility company. Many of these same facilities also have the ability to burn fossil fuels, and four have contracts to supply firm power to the island's electrical utility. Table 3 provides a listing of the sugar company generation capacity on each island.
The tabulated statistics included in this report indicate the total electrical power that was generated by the sugar company facilities with biomass, including that which was used by the plantation and factory as well as that sold to the island's electric utility. A separate tabulation (Table 28) was made of the electricity that the sugar plantations exported to the islands' utilities. An effort was also made to depict the thermal energy from biomass that these sugarcane factories used for purposes other than the production of electricity. Statistics from the sugar industry provide sufficient resolution so that estimates can be made of the energy use from the different sources of fuel. Details regarding the calculation of these estimates are included in Appendix A.
It needs to be mentioned, however, that as the profitability of the sugar business is currently in decline, many of the sugarcane mills have ceased or reduce operation which will result in an erosion of Hawaii's biomass generating capacity. Hamakua Sugar Company ceased operations in 1994. Also, the owner of the primary source of sugar cane supplied to Hilo Coast Processing Company (HCPC) announced in July, 1992 that it would to convert its sugar cane acreage to macadamia nuts, eucalyptus trees and other diversified crops, and discontinue harvesting sugar cane in late 1994. The power generation facilities at HCPC continue to supply power to the Big Island's grid with its primary fuel now being coal. The only other sugar cane factory on the Big Island, Ka'u Agribusiness, discontinued its operations in March of 1996.
In April, 1995, AMFAC/JMB Hawaii Inc. shut down the Oahu Sugar Company. Dole food company closed down the only other sugar mill on Oahu,, the Waialua Sugar Company, in October, 1996. McBryde Sugar Company ceased planting operations in June of 1995, and and its plant was shut down in September of 1996. This left Kauai and Maui as the only sugar producing islands in the State.
The City and County of Honolulu contracted with Honolulu Resource Recovery Venture (HRRV) in July of 1985 to design, construct and operate a waste to energy facility. The reason for this contract was to preserve the beauty of the island of Oahu and to conserve land which would otherwise be rapidly consumed by continued land filling of solid waste. Prior to the initial operation in 1989, the facility was sold to the Ford Motor Credit Company and leased back to the City and County of Honolulu. Ford obtained valuable tax credits out of this transaction while the City received an $80 million cash profit. Operation commenced in December of 1989, and the facility has a firm power contract to provide 46 megawatts to the island's electrical grid while processing about 600,000 tons of solid waste annually.
There is also another energy project at the City and County of Honolulu's Kapa'a sanitary landfill. In 1989, the Kapa'a Energy Partners/Kapa'a Generating Partners installed a machine to burn the landfill gas generated by the anaerobic decomposition of the refuse at this dump and make electricity for sale to the island's electric utility. Peak production of this facility has been 2.9 megawatts. Exhaust heat from this turbine is ducted to the neighboring Ameron HC & D Quarry where it is used to dry aggregate. This heat is purchased by the quarry owner at price based on the diesel fuel oil saved at the quarry by not burning it for this drying process. Annual estimates of the fuel saved by the utilization of this exhaust heat are not available for inclusion in the statistics presented in this report.
In 1982, Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Corporation, a C. Brewer company, installed a boiler in their nut processing plant near Hilo on the Big Island that was capable of using macadamia nut husks as a fuel. This boiler provided process heat to the factory and is also used to power a 750 kW generator that provides electricity to the facility. This electricity is not sold to the electric utility. C. Brewer does not disclose the volume of the macadamia nut husks it burns annually in this facility, or the electricity it generates.
This hog farm utilizes farm hog manure to generate electrical energy to operate agricultural equipment. For over a decade, the owner of this farm has operated a biomass digester to produce biogas. Since 1991, this biogas has been used in a system that turns this gas into electricity. The facility used a 20 kW generator that operates daily for 8 to 10 hours, as it does not produce enough biogas to power the farm 24 hours per day. The main digester has a 61,000 gallon capacity and is fitted with a floating cover. This system has not been connected with the island's electrical grid due to the expense of the required interconnection equipment, and the biogas unit is in fact being operated as a backup to utility power. This meant that when ever a large electrical load must be energized on the farm, the biogas unit is shut off and the farm draws its power for the utility grid. No detailed records have been kept on the annual power production of this facility. In 1995, a component failure caused this generator system to shutdown. As family that runs this farm is planning on exiting the hog business and selling the farm, no effort has been made to restore the operation of this generator.
In 1982, Molokai Electric Company, which is now a division of Maui Electric Company (MECO), commissioned a 4 megawatt power plant at Palaau designed to burn agricultural residue. This plant initially operated for about seven months before it shut down due to a generator system failure. Repairs were made and a new generator was purchased and installed by Molokai Electric. The facility was then sold to On-Site Energy, a subsidiary of the Pacific Corporation, which refurbished the plant and placed it back into service in 1988. The plant's performance was in general less than anticipated primarily due to an insufficient fuel supply and a severe turbine malfunction. Consequently, On-Site could not meet its contract energy requirements with MECO, which resulted in MECO's termination of the contract and the permanent shutdown of the unit. Statistics regarding the annual power production of this unit are included in the data reported in this document.
Hawaii has nearly 32 megawatts of hydroelectric power production capacity. Over half of this capacity is on the Big Island, with the rest split more or less evenly between Maui and Kauai. There are no hydroelectric generation facilities on any of the other islands. Almost 50 percent of the hydroelectric generation capacity is owned by Hawaii's sugar companies. Independent power producers account for about 40 percent of the hydroelectric capacity, and the remainder is owned by the electric utility on the Big Island. Table 4 is a listing of the major hydroelectric generation facilities on each island.
The sugar companies have utilized hydroelectric power in Hawaii since 1897. All of the electricity from these plants is used for the sugar plantation's needs with the rest being sold to the island's electric utility. Generally, the hydro plants on a plantation are operated in conjunction with the steam power plants at the sugarcane mills, with production data for distinct generating units not being readily available. However, data from the Hawaii Agricultural Research Center does provide enough resolution so that the amount of energy produced from all of a sugar company's hydroelectric sources can be discerned.
The latest addition to the state's list of hydroelectric facilities is the 12 megawatt run-of-the-river station of the Wailuku River Hydroelectric Project. The plant is located at the junction of the Wailuku River and the Kaloheahewa Stream near Hilo on the island of Hawaii. This site is in the Hilo Forest Reserve and the Hilo Closed Watershed, entirely within lands owned by the state of Hawaii. The plant went into full operation on July 1, 1993, and is owned and managed by the Wailuku River Hydroelectric Limited Partnership, which itself is substantially owned by the Wailuku River Hydroelectric Power Company (WRHPC), the developer of the site. WRHPC is wholly owned by Synergics, Inc. of Maryland. This project was financed by $25,000,000 in Special Purpose Tax Free Revenue Bonds issued by the state of Hawaii and backed by the Union Bank of California, an affiliate of the Bank of Tokyo, Ltd.
This private company in the northern tip of the Big Island is devoted to the promotion of diversified agriculture and provides water to small farmers in this area. The ditch for this water also has a hydroelectric plant with two turbines, each rated at 175 kW, and has been in operation since 1984.
The Waimea Water Treatment Plant of the Department of Water Supply (DWS) for the County of Hawaii installed a 15 kW hydroelectric generator in early 1982. The electricity from this unit was used to run equipment in the plant with the excess power sold to the island's utility grid. This machine ran until late 1991, when it was replaced by a new 37.3 kW hydroelectric turbine. This new machine commenced operation in July of 1992. Data on the hydroelectricity used by the water treatment plant are not accessible, but estimates of the plant's total output were made based on DWS statistics.
Ed Wence and Fred Koehnen were neighbors in the 'Ainako neighborhood of Hilo with a spring fed stream running between their properties. In 1983, they jointly constructed a 6.7 kilowatt hydroelectric turbine on this stream. Power from this unit is used at both of these men's houses, with the excess being sold to the island's electric utility, Hawaii Electric Light Company (HELCO). Wenko Energy was organized by these neighbors as the commercial vehicle to enter into a purchase power agreement with HELCO. This project was the first residential scale hydroelectric system that HELCO had ever been asked to hook up to their grid. Mr. Wence has since passed away, leaving Mr. Koehnen the sole operator of Wenko Energy.
The Hawaii Electric Light Company (HELCO) owns and operates two hydropower plants on the Big Island. Both of these plants are on the Wailuku river, and together they have a combined installed capacity of 3,775 kW. The oldest plant is the Puueo station that was constructed in Hilo in 1901. The present plant at this site includes a 750 kW unit that was installed in 1919, and a 1,875 kW unit that was installed in 1941. Both of these units use the Pelton impulse type wheels.
The other HELCO facility is the Waiau hydropower plant that was constructed in 1920. It was originally fitted with a 750 kW generating unit, but in 1928, an additional 400 kW generator was relocated from the Puueo plant to the Waiau powerhouse. Both of these units are also the Pelton impulse type.
The first geothermal well in Hawaii to produce steam was drilled in 1976 in the Puna district of the Big Island. This well, named the Hawaii Geothermal Project - Abbott (HGP-A) was 6,140 feet deep and one of the hottest in the world. In July of 1981, a 2.5 megawatt electric plant used energy from this well to produce electrical power that was fed into the Hawaii Electric Light Company's grid. The plant was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, and the state and county governments. It was originally designed as a two year demonstration project, but continued operation until the end of 1989. Electricity generated by this facility is included in the data presented in this report.
Puna Geothermal Venture, a partnership comprised of OESI Power Corporation (an American subsidiary of Ormat Turbines Ltd., Yavne, Israel) and Constellation Power Incorporated (a subsidiary of the Baltimore Gas and Electric Company), developed a 25 megawatt geothermal plant in the Kapoho area of Puna on the Big Island. This plant represents the first commercial geothermal plant in Hawaii and production of electricity commenced on April 22, 1993. In 1996, this plant was re-rated to 30 MW.
Almost all of the major U.S. Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) experiments in recent years have taken place in Hawaii at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority (NELHA) at Keahole Point on the island of Hawaii.
Pacific International Center for High Technology Research (PICHTR) worked with the State of Hawaii and the USDOE to design, construct and operate an open cycle OTEC experimental apparatus at the NELHA. Ground breaking for the construction of a 210 kW (gross) open cycle OTEC apparatus was held in November, 1991 and the plant was dedicated on April 16, 1993. A final fresh water production subsystem was completed and put on line at this facility in February, 1994.
This is an experimental facility, and as such is not operated 24 hours a day. The maximum net power production is 100 kW, with a median value of 50 kW. In addition it can produce 5 gallons per minute of desalinated water. Power generated by this apparatus has been consumed by the NELHA facilities since early 1994 (at a rate of approximate 100,000 kWh per year), however, the primary purpose of this device is to gather important information on the life cycle of OTEC components in order to facilitate the development of a commercial sized OTEC design.