Editorial: Find middle way on wind turbines

To meet the city’s current setback requirement for clean-energy wind projects, the distance between a turbine and all property lines must be no closer than the blade-tip height measure of a project’s tallest windmill.

In the case of the controversial Na Pua Makani project in Kahuku, the city has allowed construction of some of the nation’s tallest windmills — eight turbines, each 568 feet in height. What’s more, it granted waivers allowing them as close as 284 feet from a property line — half the linear measure set by Honolulu’s land use ordinance.

For many passersby, the sight of turbines on the North Shore and elsewhere in Hawaii represents a mix of clean-energy blessing and aesthetic blight. But for residents living near especially large windmills — Na Pua Makani’s setback is just short of 100 yards, the length of a football field — proximity raises valid nuisance and health-related concerns.

Also wholly valid is the instinct to mitigate those concerns. But in a move that seems to be an extreme over- correction, the City Council Zoning Committee last week gave tentative approval to a proposal to prohibit energy-producing windmills from being installed within 5 miles — that’s 26,400 feet — of neighboring properties.

Councilwoman Heidi Tsuneyoshi introduced Resolution 19-305 in November — amid Kahuku community outcry during which protesters blocked transport of turbine parts to the project’s site and police made more than 200 arrests to clear the road, allowing AES Corp. to begin construction.

While Tsuneyoshi’s proposal would not affect the AES project, which is slated to be operational this summer, she said it aims to “provide a little relief” to communities situated near future wind projects. That’s a vast understatement, since such a large setback would essentially scrap the possibility of any more wind projects on land within the city’s jurisdiction.

Such a setback would create snags in the ongoing push to meet the state’s 2045 deadline for generating 100% of electricity sales from renewable sources. So far, slightly more than 20% of Hawaiian Electric’s clean energy comes from wind; and its gigawatt-hours production tops that of all other renewables, including solar photovoltaic.

Further, Hawaiian Electric is now sorting through proposals for new projects to provide 900 megawatts of replacement service as coal-fired AES Hawaii on Oahu and the oil-fired Kahului Power Plant are slated to close. On the table are projects featuring wind, solar, energy storage and other technologies on Oahu, Maui and Hawaii island.

Given the city’s commitment to ramping up clean-energy efforts on Oahu, the full City Council should consider a compromise to the resolution — one that moves the setback farther away from property lines, but not miles away.

At the state level, Hawaii lawmakers are weighing House Bill 2188, which establishes a 1-mile setback from the nearest farm or residential unit for certain wind-energy facilities on agricultural land. In written testimony, Hawaiian Electric said that distance, too, “will have a potential impact on achieving the state’s renewable energy goals.”

While the linear measure of a reasonable setback for a wind project in the islands remains unclear, an encouraging HB 2188 provision requires a study on the effects of turbine noise on the health of residents.

It tasks the University of Hawaii’s John A. Burns School of Medicine with conducting or contracting for an examination of noise levels and upshot matters including potential noise-related health issues, such as headache, anxiety and hearing loss.

Given Hawaii’s land constraints, it’s expected that wind farms here will be located closer to inhabited areas compared with those elsewhere. Still, we must approach this uncharted territory with ample caution, balancing public health with green-energy goals.