ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Hawaii's Green Energy Program

Updated on June 1, 2013

While many states receive a lot of sun that can be collected to create electricity, not all can consistently count on wind to make the same. Hawaii has both on a very frequent basis, which is attracting large Green energy companies.

On Maui, Sempra U.S. Gas & Power, owns the Auwahi Wind project at Ulupalakua Ranch. The ranch is located up the slopes of Haleakala.

They currently have the ability to make 21 megawatts cost $140 million. They are expanding the wind farm by adding 40 more wind turbines, taking the project to 120 megawatts. South Maui, which gets the most sun on the island is a hub for solar collectors and companies to help residents defray expensive costs of utilities. The project employs 180 workers and once completed sill have a staff of four full-time. Sempra leased 5,280 acres of the Ulupalakua Ranch for the expansion. The wind there blows at about 22 mph, which is situated on the southeastern part of the mountain. Their wind turbines only need 7 mph to produce energy. When operational, the 21 megawatts generated will be enough to power 10,000 Maui homes.

The state's Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) wants to lease up to 1,400 acres to develop cheap electricity on Maui and over 50 developers have submitted their plans for review. While Maui is the main recipient of the electricity, the main island of Oahu will also be connected by a multi-million undersea cable connecting it to Maui. The excess electricity that Maui does not use will be transferred for Honolulu residents. On Lanai, Castle & Cooke Inc. is building a build a wind farm capable of producing up to 400 megawatts of energy, and again, excess electricity would be given to Oahu via an underwater cable.

Also on Maui, local towns want to create a viable solar energy programs and has identified 15 prime locations for large solar collectors. Businesses who provide the technology would be able to sell the electricity to the local electrical grid. The towns hope to have a 1 megawatt system in place to contribute to the overall total.

South Maui includes Ma'alaea, Kihei, Wailea, and Makena. Except for Makena, all these areas have miles of gorgeous white sand beaches,like Florida. Makena receives much less wind, while Ma'alaea can get particularly windy as the day progresses. Kihei is the hub of what is happening in South Maui.

Hawaii can no doubt reach its goal to be self-sufficient partially by 2030. This is important, the people on Maui, specifically, generate their own electricity via fuel generated motors and the bill each customer has comprises of 50% of the fuel costs. Imported oil to Hawaii is the reason and 76% of it is to generate electricity. The cost for electricity on Maui now is 40 cents per kWh, on Lanai- almost 50 cents and on Oahu around 33-35 cents. An average Hawaii resident using 600 kilowatt hours of electricity a month pays about $168. By comparison, mainlanders pay an average of 11.5 cents per kilowatt hour would pay $69 a month.

Hawaii's goal of obtaining 40 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2030 has begun. Mahalo!

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)