First Wind offered $117m loan for Hawaii wind farm

March 8, 2010

The Kahuku project will use 2.5MW Clipper Liberty wind turbines

Wind developers First Wind have been offered a $117 million loan guarantee for a 30-megawatt wind project being developed in Hawaii.

The conditional commitment from the US Department of Energy will help finance the Kahuku Wind project, which as well as generating power for 7,700 homes will also feature battery storage systems.

The project is currently in the final stages of securing a permit, and remains subject to approval by the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission.

If it goes ahead, it is expected to create around 200 construction jobs and ultimately contribute toward Hawaii’s goal to source 70% of its electricity and ground transportation energy from clean energy by 2030.

“We are very pleased to receive notification of this conditional commitment offer and we applaud the DOE and its Loan Programs Office for its leadership in advancing innovative renewable energy projects such as Kahuku Wind,” said Paul Gaynor, CEO of First Wind.

Robbie Alm, executive vice president of the Hawaiian Electric Company, said the project would be a “major addition” to Oahu’s portfolio of renewable energy sources. HEC has agreed to buy 200MW of renewable energy from First Wind.

He said: “First Wind brings demonstrated wind farm experience to this project and we welcome the opportunity to work with them to help meet our state’s critical clean energy goals.

Technology

The Kahuku Wind project is designed around 12 “Liberty” wind turbines supplied by Clipper Windpower, each rated at 2.5-megawatts output and the largest wind turbines to be manufactured in North America.

The project will also use a battery storage system scaled at 15MVA, which will be able to store enough power to supply 10MW for at least an hour during periods of low wind speed. The system is being developed by Xtreme Power, based in Kyle, Texas, and should help with local network stability.

Kahuku Wind will demonstrate the tremendous potential for battery storage solutions to maximize the efficiency of utility-scale wind” - Paul Gaynor, First Wind

Mr. Gaynor said: “We believe Kahuku Wind will demonstrate the tremendous potential for battery storage solutions to maximize the efficiency of utility-scale wind projects by smoothing output and providing some energy at off-peak times.”

First Wind, which has its head office in Boston, Massachusetts, has already successfully built Hawaii’s largest wind energy facility, the 30MW Kaheawa Wind project which it continues to operate in Maui. The wind farm provides about 9% of Maui’s electricity needs.

As with the Kaheawa project, the Kahuku project will feature a Habitat Conservation Plan to protect endangered species near the wind farm, First Wind said.