The U.S. Department of Energy has finalized a $117 million loan guarantee for Kahuku Wind Power, LLC, the owner and operator of the Kahuku Wind Power project in Hawaii.
The project includes the development of an innovative 30-megawatt (MW) wind power plant that will supply electricity to approximately 7,700 households per year. According to company estimates, the project, located in Kahuku, Hawaii, will create over 200 wind jobs on the island of Oahu.
The project is expected to be the first to meet reliability requirements
for wind and solar energy set by Hawaiian Electric Company, the only
electric utility operating on Oahu.
The
Kahuku wind power plant uses twelve 2.5-MW Liberty wind turbine
generators manufactured by Clipper Windpower of Carpinteria, California (CWP.L)
and a 10-MW battery energy storage system (BESS) manufactured by
Xtreme Power Inc. of Kyle, Texas. The BESS will modulate and smooth
fluctuations in power output caused by changes in wind levels. When
completed, Kahuku will produce the first-ever combined installation of
Clipper wind turbines and Xtreme’s battery energy storage system.
First
Wind Holdings, LLC, the project sponsor and independent U.S.-based wind
energy developer, successfully built and currently operates Hawaii’s
largest wind energy facility, the 30-MW Kaheawa Wind project in
Maui. Kaheawa Wind serves nearly 9% of Maui’s annual
electricity needs.
"This project represents what our national energy policy is attempting to accomplish: clean energy displacing imported oil in Hawaii to generate electricity, and in the process reducing our carbon output and creating green jobs," said Senator Daniel Inouye.
Including this loan, the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office has closed or offered conditional commitments for loan guarantees to support 13 clean energy projects.
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