Offshore windmills part of energy debate

Will Hawaii need giant offshore wind farms to meet its ambitious goal of 100 percent renewable energy generation by 2045?

A new proposal to install wind turbines off the coast of Oahu has raised the question anew. One thing seems clear: If the state is serious about its energy goals, it’s inevitable that offshore wind farms — which raise serious environmental, cultural and technical concerns — will need to be part of a comprehensive review.

One of the experts extolling offshore wind turbines is former state Energy Administrator Ted Peck, now the head of a company that’s proposing to develop a turbine facility off Oahu’s South Shore.

Peck, chief executive officer of Holu Energy LLC, has teamed up with Progression Energy, a year-old Oregon-based renewable energy developer, for a proposal to bring a 400-megawatt floating wind farm to a site 15 miles off Oahu’s South Shore.

It’s the second such pitch for an offshore wind farm.

AW Hawaii Wind LLC, a subsidiary of Denmark-based Alpha Wind Energy, is planning a $1.6 billion project that consists of 102 turbines, with 51 located 17 miles south of Diamond Head and another 51 located 12 miles northwest of Kaena Point. The company said the turbines could provide about 30 percent of Oahu’s electric power needs.

In an indication of what to expect, AW Hawaii Wind’s plan has already been hit with a barrage of concerns from military, environmental, Native Hawaiian and other community representatives.

The North Shore Neighborhood Board voted unanimously to oppose the leasing of 10,000 ocean acres for offshore windmills. In June, during a meeting hosted by federal and state agencies, stakeholders intently questioned AW Hawaii Wind’s project. Everything was aired — from the Coast Guard and Federal Aviation Administration’s concerns about how the turbines would impact aircraft and vessel communication to the fishing community’s concerns about the wind farms’ influence on deep-water and nearshore fishing.

Fully airing these concerns is necessary and worthwhile. It’s also worth debating whether the turbines can survive Hawaii’s ocean conditions and storm patterns, including hurricanes. Nonetheless, the conversation must continue. Land for wind farms is scarce, and solar energy probably won’t be enough.

“The reality is, for us to achieve 100 percent renewable, a project like ours will need to be seriously considered,” Peck said.

That could be a problem. Holu and Progression’s project would include 40 to 50 turbines and construction would begin in 2020. But the project is still in its infancy

Progression Energy has not yet filed a lease application with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which is one of the first steps in setting up an offshore wind farm.

It’s also not clear how much offshore wind energy will be enough. Peck believes the grid can take 400 megawatts from offshore wind energy generation. If he’s right, that means only one project would likely be approved initially.

Then there is the question of the merits of each project. State regulators and the utility, whether Hawaiian Electric Industries or NextEra, should judge the proposals based on which offers the best price for ratepayers.

Hawaii may prove to be a prime candidate for offshore wind farms, but careful studies on its impact beyond producing renewable energy will be necessary.