Initially, energy leaders focused on wind power and an undersea cable. But now, that's no longer the case. "Based on the comments we got in the scoping period last year, we listened to those comments, we took them very seriously and basically they said you're not looking broadly enough."

"There's a long road ahead for us," said Robin Kaye, a spokesman for the group Friends of Lana'i, which opposes a proposed wind farm project on the island's north end because of the development's cultural and environmental impacts. "Our focus in the next six to nine months is to educate folks on Oahu how much this is going to cost."

The state Public Utilities Commission has denied Hawaiian Electric Co.’s request to reconsider a July ruling requiring the utility to rebid 200 megawatts – or half – of the Big Wind project.

Large-scale renewable energy technologies are critical for Kaua‘i to achieve sustainability, but proposals to convert the abundant resources of wind and solid waste to electricity still have unresolved questions. The two technologies were not included in $1.5 billion of private capital investments recommended by the final draft of the Kaua‘i Energy Sustainability Plan that was released this past week and presented to the Kaua‘i County Council and the public.

Maui Electric Co.'s sales, measured in kilowatt-hours, are down nearly 10 percent this year, a drop that tracks closely with declining visitor arrivals, said company President Ed Reinhardt. Before the island's economic downturn and fewer visitors coming to the island, MECO had been forecasting that it would need its next increment of firm power generation in 2011. Earlier this year, because of declining demand, it revised that forecast to 2014.

With its ocean breezes, ample sunlight, pounding waves and a continuously erupting volcano, Hawaii seems blessed with the means to produce clean electricity and achieve energy independence. But that isn't anywhere close to happening. For one thing, the technology isn't quite ready. The big drawback with wind and solar energy, for example, is that the flow of electricity stops when the breeze dies down and the sun sets. Since there is no good way to store the power for use later, homeowners need conventional electrical service - meaning fossil fuel-burning plants - as a backup.

Down a dirt road on America's southernmost island, 16 windmills tilt their sleek blades toward the ocean, as dependent on the whims of Hawai'i's tropical breeze as residents are on the electricity they help produce. The Hawi wind farm on the Big Island makes clean and affordable energy, but the 100-foot-tall wind turbines stop when the air is still. Most forms of renewable energy face a similar difficulty nationwide - they're cleaner than oil and coal but fall short on reliability and convenience.