MAALAEA – A wildfire ignited in the West Maui Mountains for the second weekend in a row, this time torching approximately 500 acres of brush just west of last week’s massive fire. Authorities believe the fire started in the area of tower No. 9 at the Kaheawa wind farm, just above 2,500 feet elevation on Kealaloloa Ridge........The causes for Saturday’s fire as well as the blaze on the Labor Day weekend were undetermined, fire officials said.

The addition of 14 new, power-generating windmills will require a Hilo company to move pieces as long as 112 feet from Hilo Harbor to South Point. The pieces are so large that the general contractor in charge of the project actually had to make improvements to two stretches of road so the shipments will make it through.

Stung by opposition that killed a proposed wind farm in Leeward Oahu but under continuing pressure to create renewable sources of power, Hawaiian Electric Co. has launched a series of advertisements telling customers it's up to them to help wean the state from its dependence on oil.

Harnessing wind Power is not new to Hawaii. Since 1980 various wind farm projects have been built in the islands of Oahu, Maui, Molokai and the Big Island, including the world's largest turbine for its time (1987) with mixed results and outcomes.

Shell said it chose the Ulupalakua Ranch site because of its powerful winds and because of its remoteness, lessening the visual impact of the wind turbines.

Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle has signed into law a bill that raises the income tax credits for using renewable energy.

"Definitely, the renewable energy takes the pressure off the central station units," Dizon said of the Big Island's system. "But then the downside is the renewables are mostly as available. I mean if the wind stops blowing, then the generators have to start to kick up again."

ATLANTA — General Electric Co.'s GE Energy unit said Monday it will supply wind turbines for use in municipal projects in Los Angeles and Hawaii.

Blackouts in neighborhoods across O'ahu this week are likely a taste of what's to come as the weather gets hotter and Hawaiian Electric Co. says it struggles with insufficient generators to supply an increasingly demanding population.

Those blinking warnings lights on wind energy machines at the northern tip of the Big Island have residents blinking mad.

The Kaheawa Wind Power wind farm on Maui will perform $3.8 million in work to benefit birds and bats to make up for any damage the species suffer from the rotating blades of 20 wind turbines.

HONOLULU – Kaheawa Wind Power LLC will be before the state Board of Land and Natural Resources at its meeting Friday on two issues: a habitat conservation plan and to learn what penalty it will be assessed for a conservation district violation in September.