A few weeks ago, in a small, but packed hall in Waimanalo, on the East Side of Oahu, a woman in her 60s stood up and asked, “Who doesn’t want this to happen, raise you hands.” Pretty much everyone in the hall raised their hands.
The meeting had been set by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, also known as BOEM. They wanted community feedback on the idea of developing an offshore wind farm off the Windward Coast of Oahu, in the Kaiwi Channel between Oahu and Molokai.
Now there isn’t an official project or proposal on the books, but the very idea of an offshore wind farm was met with resistance. “It’s very clear tonight people are passionate about how they feel about our ocean waters and the importance of it culturally, for their recreation uses, all of this,” said Ann Marie Kirk, of Save Kaiwi Coalition.
The community of Waimanalo mirrored the coastal community opposition to offshore wind farms in Australia. Many of the protests were led by surfers. In August 2023, the Australian Federal Government announced the creation of six offshore wind energy zones right around the country – Newcastle, Illawarra, Gippsland, Portland, Bunbury and Perth. The new Labor government had put an 82 per cent renewable energy target by 2030. Hawaii meanwhile has set a goal of generating 100% of its energy from renewable sources by 2045.
Related: Ocean Conservationist Paul Watson Arrested, Facing Extradition to Japan
To do this, governments are going to need wind farms and offshore projects are the most efficient. Yet it seems many surfers don’t want them. In Australia’s Illawarra region, 1,000-strong crowds gathered, including a group of 150 surfers who staged a paddle out in protest. The Sandon Point Boardriders, one of the most successful and vocal local clubs, was at the forefront.
“We don't want our coast ruined, we don't want animals injured, we don't believe the information that has been provided is true, this could ruin my daughter's future," Patricia Elkerton told local news, whose seven-year-old joined the paddle out.
Many of the proposals cited a threat to wildlife - whales, dolphins and birds in particular, as well as possible effect on the waves. These potential threats have largely been debunked. “Wind farms have been blamed for an unusual spate of whale strandings on America’s east coast, but when scientists looked into it they found that nearby wind farm surveying had nothing to do with the deaths,” said surf and sustainability journalist Kirk Owers. “Nearly half of the whales studied had boat impact injuries.”
Studies in the UK, where The North Sea has the biggest scale and highest number of wind farms in the world, have also shown no threat to sea life. Most scientists, and Greenpeace, Sea Shepard , and Surfrider Foundation , agree that it is the warming and acidifying oceans as a result of climate change are a much bigger threat to whales than wind farms.
Some surfers also raised the idea that the waves will be affected negatively. “If the turbines are floating structures ( which was mooted for Oahu ), they’ll either go up and down with the swell, or the swell waves will simply wrap around. It wouldn’t matter if the turbines were only 1 km offshore, there would still be no impact on the swell reaching our beaches,” said Professor Rob Brander, aka ‘Dr. Rip’, coastal scientist, beach safety researcher and science communicator.
Most of the opposition also raises visual pollution as a major drawback to wind turbines. It’s a valid point. Man-made objects in the ocean can’t be unseen. Though Newcastle and Illawarra have been home to the coal, steel and gas industries for decades. Surfers in both towns have lived all their lives with enormous coal and steel ships lining the horizon. Look to any shot of Ryan Callinan ripping Merewether, and there’s invariably a queue of ships clogging the horizon.
In Hawaii, it’s more understandable that locals and surfers have been scarred by the tech. The onshore wind turbines on Oahu and the controversial Kahuku wind farm have a checkered history. Residents in Kahuku said the 568-foot turbines are too big and too close to their homes, and that there was a lack of consultation. The onshore Lalamilo Wells wind farm on Oahu and the Kamaoa wind farm built in the 1980s, were some of the earliest and biggest in the world, but were all out of service by 2010. That was due to Hawaii’s remote electrical grids, and turbulent winds, that caused electric frequency and voltage to fluctuate. The early adopters didn't get the results that were promised.
Yet Hawaii needs a solution for it energy. In 2023, just 31% of the state's total generation came from renewables, mainly from solar power. But the state uses almost nine times more energy than it produces. Petroleum accounts for about four-fifths of Hawaii's total energy consumption, the highest share for any state.
Like most issues, there are multiple perspectives and thoughts on where offshore wind farms go from here, but as the search for more renewable energy sources continues, this subject isn't going away any time soon.
Related: John John Florence’s Tribute to the Catalina Classic Paddleboard Race (Video)
Related: Coming Soon: San Francisco’s Inaugural Ocean Beach Surf Film Festival
Local News
Comments / 0