KAHULUI - The components for 14 more wind turbines at the Kaheawa wind farm were unloaded at Kahului Harbor over the weekend and on Monday, although Maui Electric Co. and First Wind have not yet agreed on adding 21 megawatts of additional wind to the island's electric grid, the Maui news reported today.

But the parties are close, said Kent Smith, principal of Makani Nui Associates, which partnered with First Wind and was the original developer of the 30-megawatt wind farm.

"We are under a protection order" with the Public Utilities Commission, said Smith, so he could not go into details. But he said he expects to start construction of the new towers next year, once procedural matters including an environmental impact statement are finished.

The turbines, each with a capacity of generating 1.5 megawatts, are exactly the same as the original 20. When First Wind decided to expand Kaheawa, the initial proposal was for 27 megawatts.

But that was scaled back because after detailed studies were undertaken, 14 towers were the maximum that could be fitted into the site leased from the state, Smith said. Wind interference among the towers and archaeological and cultural constraints also precluded more.

Maui Electric initially resisted the expansion, on the grounds that Shell Wind's 40-megawatt farm under development at Ulupalakua would provide the utility with as much wind as it could handle. Shell announced its farm in 2006. The company did not respond to a request for an update on its schedule for the project.

MECO President Ed Reinhardt said: "We continue to work with both First Wind and Shell Wind on their respective projects, and our discussions on purchase power contracts are moving in a very positive direction.

"It is too premature to make any statements regarding either project. However, we are encouraged by the progress we have made up to this point in our negotiations."

Managing wind can be a problem for a small power grid. Maui Electric's peak load is not much more than 200 megawatts, and the usual demand is about two-thirds that. Since wind can be fluky, creating voltage spikes, only a limited proportion of wind energy can be accommodated if the system is to remain stable.

First Wind expects to get around that problem in part by installing utility storage batteries, which will smooth out the swings in voltage and make wind into firm, or at least firmer, power. The batteries are still under development, Smith said.

Kaheawa sued Maui Electric under the Public Utilities Regulatory Policy Act, alleging that power company could not favor Shell over First Wind for the next increment of wind power. Apparently, the companies now have smoothed over most of their differences, and they have reached the stage of negotiating a purchase power agreement.

Smith credits Robbie Alm of Hawaiian Electric Co. - which negotiates the agreement on behalf of its subsidiary, Maui Electric - with "a very sympathetic role" in the talks.

First Wind (then known as UPC Wind) first inquired about expanding Kaheawa in 2006. Early in 2007, First Wind announced its intentions, and at that time, Smith said, it hoped to get through all procedural matters in about a year.

Because of lead times and competition for spots in production schedules, First Wind had to decide a year ago to order the equipment, even without a certain agreement with its customer, according to Smith.

There was "an understanding with MECO" that First Wind would move. Under the law, utilities are required to buy alternative energy when offered by a qualified provider, but they are not required to meet any particular price schedule.

Since then, much has happened. Petroleum prices went way up and since have come way down. This can affect "avoided cost," which is one criterion for determining how much a public utility will offer for power from an outside supplier.

Gov. Linda Lingle also stepped up her drive to get off oil, with a revised goal of 70 percent renewables by 2030. Smith said the expansion of Kaheawa will fulfill part of that goal.

Also since the expansion of Kaheawa was proposed, Castle & Cooke has announced an enormous wind project for Lanai, and First Wind and Makani Nui have begun engineering studies for wind on Molokai. Simultaneously, design research for undersea power transmission cables is under way. Oahu is the main target of Castle & Cooke, but First Wind contemplates exporting Molokai electricity to Maui.

Smith said that since an environmental impact statement -- which covered the whole ahupuaa - already was done at Kaheawa, a lot of that information can be used in the new environmental study, and he does not expect any trouble obtaining a finding of no significant impact.

* Harry Eagar can be reached at heagar@mauinews.com.