Hawaii Might Finally Make Floating Wind Farms a Reality
Similar聽proposals have caused controversy in other states, but Hawaii has some unique advantages to聽capitalize on the technology.
The picturesque waters of Hawaii could be home to the country’s first floating wind farm.
During the Hawaii Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Task Force meeting earlier this month, government and industry agencies discussed two proposals to off the island of Oahu.
The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management received the two unsolicited proposals in January from AW Hawaii Wind, LLC, a subsidiary of Denmark-based Alpha Wind Energy. They call for one farm 12 miles off Oahu’s north shore and another in waters 17 miles south of Waikiki, a project totaling $1.6 billion.
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Although there are currently no operational floating wind farms in the U.S., they have been running in Europe since 1991, starting with , which now receives .
In the U.S. this year, the Department of Energy to pilot projects based in New Jersey, Oregon and Virginia, with the goal of developing operational offshore wind farms in U.S. waters by 2017.
But the proposals have not come without controversy.
In May, the New Jersey state Appeals Court agreed with the state’s Board of Public Utility’s decision to reject a plan by Fishermen’s Energy, citing concerns that the energy produced would be .
Cape Wind, an approved offshore project once planned for Cape Cod, is basically after missing deadlines earlier this year and being riddled with lawsuits from affluent residents who criticized the project for obstructing views.
BOEM explains that offshore winds tend to be , have the potential to generate “significantly larger amounts of electricity,” and are generally less obtrusive than structures built on land.
Hawaii has the , according to BOEM, because of the state’s strong trade winds and its commitment to renewable energy. Earlier this year, lawmakers here , making Hawaii the of running 100 percent on renewable resources by 2045.
The proposed Hawaii turbines 聽via undersea cables. It’s estimated they could produce up to 30 percent of Oahu’s power needs, and could be expanded.
Joan Barminski, the regional supervisor of the Office of Strategic Resources for BOEM’s Pacific region, told Pacific Business News that the proposals , including how the infrastructure would affect wildlife, and what the physical appearance of the turbines will be on the horizon.
Alpha Wind Energy estimates that if accepted, the construction could begin by mid-2018, with the turbines generating power by 2020. It’s an “aggressive but realistic schedule,” AWE , adding that its success relies heavily on community support.
