About 20 Kahuku residents met Thursday night at the Kahuku Village Association Community Center to voice their opinions on a third wind farm planned for the North Shore.
The planned 10 wind turbines are to be operated by Na Pua Makani Power Partners, a subsidiary of a Southern California-based Champlin/GEI Wind Holdings LLC, and would be located approximately 2,000 feet from Kahuku’s Mauka Village neighborhood.
Na Pua Makani’s wind project would be the second wind farm in Kahuku and the third on the North Shore. Both wind farms currently operating are owned by Maryland Heights, Mo.-based SunEdison. The 69-megawatt Kawailoa Wind project northeast of Haleiwa was completed in November 2012, and the 30-megawatt Kahuku Wind farm was completed in March 2011.
Kent Fonoimoana, president of the Kahuku Community Association, said he is opposed to the wind farm because the turbines would be too close to the community.
“I’m worried about the proximity to the community and to our schools,” Fonoimoana said. “I’m over a mile away from the existing ones, and I can hear them periodically.”
Fonoimoana said the Kahuku Community Association voted 8-1 to oppose the wind farm.
Kahuku resident Michaela Primacio said she was in favor of the wind farm in hopes that the renewable energy resource would lower electric bills.
“I’m for alternate energy,” Primacio said. “Everyone knows electricity in Hawaii is really expensive.”
Other community members said they were worried about the wind project’s visual impact and the effect the wind turbines would have on birds and the endangered Hawaiian hoary bat.
State Sen. Gil Riviere (D, Heeia-Waialua) attended the meeting and said he wanted the Kahuku community’s voices to be heard.
The meeting was organized by Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Forestry and Wildlife to discuss the draft habitat conservation plan for the wind farm.
The Public Utilities Commission approved a power purchasing agreement for the 25-megawatt wind project in January. The planned wind farm will supply energy to Hawaiian Electric Co. at 15 cents per kilowatt-hour over the next 20 years, according to the contract. The company is working with state and federal agencies on permitting for the 10 wind turbines.
The discussion on the land-based wind farm came a day after a similar meeting was held in Honolulu to explore a proposal to anchor 51 wind turbines in the ocean 12 miles northwest of Kaena Point. That proposal, which includes a second farm with another 51 turbines south of Diamond Head, is still in the preliminary stage of planning and is being put forward by Danish-based Alpha Wind Energy.
