European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 26, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Daily Magazine Hawaii taps new Power sources by Walter Sullivan new York times the acres of Kahuna ranch at a produce Dairy carnations and up to 2 million Watts of Power to the big islands electric the electricity comes from scores of com Mercial windmills covering this Saddle of the Koala Mountain Over which the Northeast Trade winds sweep with considerable Energy officials say these along with an abundance of other natural Energy May eventually make the big Island a net Energy already almost 200 a geothermal Plant on the slopes of the Kilauea a facility for burning sugar Cane residues and Wood and hydroelectric plants have made this Island less dependent on Fossil or nuclear fuels than any other part of the United in experiments in Ocean Thermal Energy conver exploiting the temperature differences Between deep and surface have been conducted off its East the development of multiple Energy sources on Hawaii is leading the Way toward a mix of sources that avoids excessive dependence on any one of it is Likely to become increasingly significant As Fossil fuel resources decline and become More the other hawaiian islands Are now heavily dependent on imported the tourist Industry has grown to a level where 35 percent of All Energy consumed is in the form of Jet with much of the rest being used by automobiles and Power the windmills Here on the North Side of the big Island and those at an As yet incomplete wind farm at the South end now generate up to 4 percent of the islands when the second wind farm be comes fully operational next they should produce As much As 9 or about 10 percent of electricity according to Dwaine director of the advanced Power systems division of the electric Power research Institute near Palo that is about As much dependence on the fickle wind As is prudent for a Spencer said California now has nearly windmills feeding about megawatts of somewhat More than the output of a typical nuclear into the Grid of the Pacific Gas and electric in contrast to Hawaii that is a very Small percentage of the Utility electric generating Ca Norman Uchida of the Hawaii electric Light the islands Power said 40 percent of the Power came from natural sources before the wind farm Here began full operation last of More than 30 percent came from three plantations that generate electricity by burning which is sugar Cane but because of the Low Price of sugar a number of plantations have shut Down or converted to raising macadamia one to fulfil its contract for Energy has been cutting and burning Trees from its geothermal generated by a new Plant that Hawaii electric operates on the East rift of Kilauea contributed 4 percent of the Power Load and the Utility own hydroelectric plants added another 3 probably nowhere else in the world have geothermal which tap natural pockets of hot water and steam in the earths been drilled at so volcanically Active a the Plant is about a dozen Miles from the area of recent eruptions on the East the Well at the geothermal Plant produces a water steam mixture Laden with Silicon and a Lopres sure system separates water from the and purifies die steam before it enters the according to some Iron oxide gets through and is deposited on the he will require a shutdown and sandblasting once every two the Well and Power Plant were largely financed by the fed eral department of two private geothermal Power companies have been drilling hoping to strike steam to sell to the Power Uchida says one company has produced but not in commercial whereas Wells of the rival company have so far been if fully the geothermal potential of the Island is said to be 500 megawatts a year for a period of 100 Herbert co owner of the Kahuna said he sees electric Power production As a form of diversification suited to Many ranches in advantageous since cattle and windmills do not interfere with each we have moved from strictly beef to wind consumption and he told a recent we Are building a greenhouse for carnations and May raise gourmet vegetables for the new the windmills there were financed by the com Mercial credit a subsidiary of control data commercial credit Sells the output to the Hawaii electric Light the 128foot Lowers Are mass pro diced by Earth Energy formerly the Jacobs wind electric of which has produced Power generating windmills for individual farms since the generators reach maximum output of kilowatts each in a wind of 28 Mph higher velocities produce no further before a Windmill is engineers Fly an instrumented Kite or balloon to determine the optimum height for a Tower at that company representatives argue that Many each of modest such As those at this wind Are More efficient and less subject to catastrophic breakdown than giant propellers such As those that have been tested they can also be serviced with Standard cranes and other according to the electric Power research new and somewhat larger versions Are now available from Denmark and Are proving highly earlier this just two weeks after the wind farm Here joined Hawaii electrics a storm with Una usually High winds damaged 45 Windmill towers or their the operators Hope that subsequent modifications have minimized the danger of a the windmills Are connected in groups of and each Cluster feeds three phase alternating current that is that not being in phase with the islands Power into a conversion in the hut trans formers convert this wild Power to direct current and then into alternating current that is in step with the 60 Cycle current distributed by Hawaii according to Patrick director of the Hawaii natural Energy Institute at the University of million has been allocated to study the feasibility of trans porting Power from the big Island of Hawaii to the neighbor Island where the state is and where Power is in Short an undersea Power Cable would probably Cost half a billion he said in a recent because so much of the Energy demand is for Jet he Hopes in the next Century that airliners will be fuelled by which could be extracted from water by the abundant Energy sources on this Island and shipped l new York times photo windmills at the Kahuna ranch in Hawaii produce 2 million Watts of april 1985 the stars and stripes Page 13