For more than three decades, wind power in Hawaii was no more than a promise. The federal government poured millions into experiments that went nowhere. Powerful utilities in concert with international industrial firms built farms that failed.
Not until two small-business owners from Maui, Kent Smith and Hilton Unemori, tried was a successful wind farm built in the state. It was risky business, considering the several previous failures.
Kaheawa Wind Power started producing electricity in June 2006 and was an instant success, although it posed a challenge. MECO's system engineers needed to manage fluctuations in power being introduced to the grid and the manufacturers had to replace some major components (under warranty). Today the project generates close to 10 percent of Maui's electricity, and Smith and Unemori's Makani Nui Associates and their partner, First Wind, are expanding the farm's capacity by two-thirds.
They also have wind projects under development on the Big Island and Oahu, hope for one on Molokai, and are planning a wood-fired renewable generating plant at Hamakua in East Hawaii.
Each man credits the other. Smith says he couldn't have done anything "without the vision" of Unemori, an electrical engineer. Unemori defers to Smith for the entrepreneurial fortitude that led him to risk a small fortune earned in real estate on a much bigger venture in the unexplored mysteries of commercial wind power.
