First envisioned over 20 years ago, the Hawi Wind Farm powered up in 2006 and has provided clean wind energy and cattle ranching to the Kohala region ever since. We’re proud to be part of the Kohala community, and we share its commitment to the rural, pastoral way-of-life that’s defined these lands for generations.

With the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) extension with HECO, Hawi Wind Farm looks to improve the facility, repowering and refurbishing existing equipment to better provide clean energy for years to come.

• Planned and permitted, 2002-2004
• Construction, 2005 – 2006
• Operational, April, 2006

• 10.56 MW of clean energy
• 16 Vestas V47, 660kW turbines, installed in 2006, each less than 200 feet tall, generously spread over 250 acres of ranch land and arranged in three parallel strings of four to seven turbines per row
• Active cattle ranch on grounds
• Substation connected to HECO
• 34.5 KV line
• Adjacent battery storage provides grid reliability and smoothing
• Only renewable project in the Kohala region due to limited transmission and distribution capacity

• Towers spaced approximately 5 rotor diameters apart for safer species passage
• No known impact of endangered species during 15 years of operations
• Synergistic relationship with cattle ranching
• Greenhouse gas mitigation

• Four full time staff, including one dedicated to cattle operations
• Clean power to over 2100 homes in the Kohala area, as well as additional energy to other areas of the island
• Green energy supply to all of Hawi and greater area of Kohala and Waimea
• Economic boost through jobs and local engagement, tax monies to county and state
• State-of-the-art technology with small footprint and big impact.

Extending the PPA for the existing 10.56 MW project for another twenty years serves the best interests of the community, county, and state.

 

• Continued displacement of dirty fossil fuel
• PPA extension price will be lower than the price of fossil fuel
• State’s 100% RPS and carbon neutral goals can be achieved faster
• Energy security to the community is continued
• Utility grid is stable and reliable
• Continued contribution to local food security

• No changes to turbines, turbine height or blades
• Existing generators, gearboxes and blades will be refurbished and rehabilitated to extend useful life for an additional 20 years
• New transformers will be installed at each generator
• On-site substation will be upgraded

• Helps HECO reduce the cost of electricity for Hawaiʻi Island
• Work will be completed with local union labor and contractors
• Thirty-plus local consulting and construction jobs and the continued employment of four local on-the-ground staff for the duration of the PPA
• Local economic impact of $43M includes repowering project cost exceeding $11M plus an additional $32M in operating costs over 20 years, resulting in local and state monies through general excise tax property tax, and income tax

• North Kohala is currently susceptible to outages because of a single line connecting the area to Waimea and the rest of the grid
• Outages occur whenever the line is damaged
• A microgrid would allow the isolation of North Kohala grid in the event of damage to that single line, providing opportunity for Hawi Wind Farm to keep the lights on in North Kohala
• Federal funding is available for communities who wish to develop such a microgrid through FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Assistance grant program