USA - New wind farm goes online in Hawaii

Hawaii Electric Light Company says a third wind farm has been brought online to help provide power for the Big Island. The new Hawaii Renewable Development wind farm in North Kohala is capable of generating up to ten and a-half megawatts of electricity for the island's power grid. That's enough to meet the needs of more than 12-hundred homes. The 16 (m) million dollar wind farm at Upolu Point consists of 16 turbines standing 200 feet tall.

HELCO already operates the Lalamilo wind farm and buys electricity from a private wind farm at South Point. With the use of wind, geothermal and hydroelectric power, the company says the Big Island is getting more than 22 percent of its electricity from renewable energy sources. It says when the Keahole plant is finished, it will be last HELCO fossil fuel power plant on the island