A Texas wind energy company is one of those proposing the idea of floating wind turbines off the shores of Hawaii to bring more renewable energy to the state.
A.W. Hawaii Wind is a Texas subsidiary of Denmark-based Alpha Wind Energy and wants to build two offshore floating wind farms, each generating about 400 megawatts of energy with 50 turbines. The plan has been submitted to the Federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management which must decide whether to grant the start of the project.
The firm’s intentions are to build one farm northwest of Oahu and another about 17 miles south of Diamond Head.
The second company is Progression Hawaii Offshore Wind and it’s proposed a$1.8 billon wind farm using 40 to 50 floating turbines off Oahu’s South Shore. The company estimates a 400 megawatt farm could provide electrical power to a quarter of the residents on Oahu.
Both firms want to use a technology named WindFloat which uses a turbine standing an estimated 600 feet tall and attached to a triangular platform floating near the surface of the ocean. Floats would be anchored to the ocean floor and undersea cables would transfer the energy to power plants on land.
Officials at Progression Energy say they have already held more than 140 meetings with environmental, tourism, Native Hawaiian and others about the project.