Renewable Energy Technology Assessments - Kauai Island Utility ...

Kaua’i Island Utility Cooperative
Renewable Energy Technology Assessments
3.0 Renewable Energy Technology
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Kauai Outlook
Wind energy is a mature renewable energy technology providing competitively
priced power. Wind resources on Kauai are moderate with some areas with very good
wind regimes. Recently, detailed wind energy maps have been produced for the island
showing wind class at a 200 meter resolution. Figure 3-19 is an adaptation of this data
showing Class 3 and higher. Long term data has also been collected for several sites on
the island.
Generally, the best wind regimes, up to Class 7, are located on exposed ridgelines,
particularly north of Hanapepe and Kalaheo in the south and around the Kalalau valley in
the northwest. There is a large region of moderate Class 3-5 winds stretching in a band
across the southern portion of the island from Port Allen to Poipu. Because site access is
easier and visual impacts will be lower, these resources may be more readily developable
than the ridgeline resources. There are also substantial off-shore wind resources in the
oceans around Kauai. However, off-shore wind technology deployment is still in its
early phases and focused on regions where ocean depth is shallower than the waters off
Kauai.
Based on an analysis of the wind class data shown in Figure 3-19, Black &
Veatch has estimated the total wind potential available for Kauai. The estimate is made
by analyzing the total land area for each of the wind classes, and assigning an assumed
MW density per land area, see Table 3-32. The theoretical technical potential of wind on
Kauai is generation of 2,450 GWh/yr, which would be produced from over 960 MW of
nameplate capacity. This theoretical estimate assumes that all resources on the island
could be developed without regard to existing land use, site access, visual impacts, etc. A
more realistic long-term upper bound of developable potential is perhaps 20 percent of
this number, or 490 GWh/yr. However, in the near term, due to its intermittency and
potential grid impacts during low load periods, wind development is likely to be limited
to less than 10 MW, which will provide about 30 GWh/yr of energy. More significant
development will likely require future integration of additional flexible generation
resources, energy storage, and advanced load management.
21 March 2005 3-71 Black & Veatch