Moloka’i Wind Deadline Missed

According to the Pacific Business News, First Wind missed the PUC March 18th deadline for getting the project land on Moloka’i.  Hawaiian Electric (HECO) says they’ll make up the 200 MW of wind energy that was supposed to come from Moloka’i by doubling the turbines on Castle and Cooke’s Lana’i property. The “Big Wind” project was supposed to bring 200MW of wind energy from each island (Lana’i and Moloka’i) to O’ahu which is supposed to supply 25% of Oahu’s energy load. The entire project (which requires undersea cables) will cost about $3 billion. Moloka’i Ranch CEO Peter Nicholas is talking to Pattern Energy about developing the project although First Wind says they have exclusive rights and this could lead to litigation. Pattern Energy spokesman, David Parquet, claims their company is preferred by Moloka’i Ranch for the wind project.  Their project would entail 90 wind turbines across 11,000 acres.  (See the Maui Wind Map) The 200MW wind farm on Lana’i will cover 1/5th of the island and it is not known how much doubling the size would take. Butch Gima, of Lanaians for Sensible Growth, a community advocacy organization, told PBN last September that “it’s tough to get an appreciation of how this will affect our island. Even residents have a hard time conceptualizing it. When we presented a 3-D model, people were just flabbergasted. People on Oahu need to understand that out-of-sight, out-of-mind does not relieve them of the responsibility to address this issue.”