Harnessing Wind Power

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MAALAEA - Six large fanlike structures atop a wall at the Maui Ocean Center will soon be generating renewable energy in an experimental project to help power Maui's only ocean aquarium.

The six wind turbines in the "Architectural Wind" generation system are scheduled to go online possibly this week to reduce the center's demand on the Maui Electric Co.'s grid, said General Manager Kate Zolezzi. A final county inspection of the turbines was conducted Wednesday.

"We hope the turbines will be up for a long time," Zolezzi said. "If the project proves itself to be successful we hope to add more turbines. We have been actively looking for a renewable energy technology for MOC for several years and feel confident that we have made a good choice."

Maui Ocean Center, along with Maui Electric Co. and the California wind turbine maker AeroVironment Inc., are partnering in the project. MECO provided $10,000 in research and development funds and AeroVironment donated shipping and installation costs. The AeroVironment system cost Maui Ocean Center $46,029.

Richard Clemons, commercial account manager at MECO, said the company is interested in seeing how the turbines will work and if the relatively low-power generators will be a viable renewable energy option.

"We want to see if the technology is there to make it economically feasible," he said.

The 1,000-watt turbines topped with avian canopies - to protect birds - are each 9 feet tall. By comparison, the 1.5-megawatt turbines in the Kaheawa Wind Power project above Maalaea stand more than 200 feet high.

The smaller AeroVironment systems are designed for small-scale power generation that might be used by a homeowner or business. The turbines are installed on an outside wall on one side of the Ocean Center entrance facing the parking lot. They're not yet generating power, but the turbines are freewheeling in the Maalaea wind until the power switch on the generators can be turned on.

With a constant daily wind, the turbines potentially could produce 48,880 kilowatt hours in a year. With the realities of an inconsistent wind, even at Maalaea, an acceptable output would be 24,440 kwh in a year, Clemons said.

Until the turbines are online, Zolezzi said, it is difficult to predict how much power the turbines will generate or how much money the center could save on the electricity it uses not only for lighting and air conditioning but for the massive pumps it operates to keep the aquarium water filtered and circulating.

The turbines utilize AeroVironment's "Architectural Wind" design technology, which harnesses a building's aerodynamic properties to generate electrical power, Zolezzi said. A building wall, like the one at the Ocean Center, causes localized wind acceleration along the solid parapet, which generates more energy, she said.

What also helps is Maalaea's constant breezes. According to AeroVironment studies, Maalaea is consistently windy year-round, which didn't surprise center staff, Zolezzi said.

An aluminum cylinder behind the blades houses the turbines, alternator, regulator and electronic speed protection feature. Electrical power from the turbines passes through a series of systems that smooth the fluctuations from wind generation and convert the flow to alternating current that can be fed into the Ocean Center power lines, Zolezzi said.

To explain the turbines, Zolezzi said the center is in the process of hooking up a touch-screen monitor that will provide data from a weather station mounted on the turbines. Visitors will be able to see the performance of the turbines in real time as well as the overall amount of power generated once the turbines are operational, she said.

"We are excited to share this information and hope that being a prototype project will encourage others to take their own initiatives to malama the aina," Zolezzi said.

Clemons said the "green path" toward renewable energy is expensive. He said he also works with businesses, such as the Maui Ocean Center, to get them to use their energy efficiently first.

"It's a lot cheaper to become efficient first," he said.

Then if a company has capital to invest in a renewable energy source, it is encouraged to do so, he said.

* Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com.