Tuesday, July 13, 2010

30-megawatt wind farm breaks ground in Kahuku hills

Oahu is on its way to joining Maui and the Big Island in the effort to harness the state's famous tradewinds.

Today developers will break ground on a wind farm in the hills near Kahuku.

The 30-megawatt project on the North Shore is the first large-scale commercial wind farm on the island and includes several technological advances, such as a battery system that will help smooth out the stability of the electrical load.

The project is being built by Kahuku Wind Power LLC, a unit of Newton, Mass.-based First Wind. The wind farm will feature a dozen state-of-the-art Clipper Liberty wind turbines with a maximum output of 2.5 megawatts each. Based on expected wind speeds at the site, the system will generate an estimated 83 million kilowatt-hours annually, the equivalent of 139,500 barrels of oil.

More at the Star Advertiser

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