So much is happening in Hawai'i's world of wind. Hawai'i, the crucible of renewables, the home of the trades.

First Wind, a Massachusetts based company, has 500 acres in Kahuku and a power purchase agreement with HECO. It will build a $100 million, 30 megawatt wind farm next year. It will provide six jobs and pay the community $50,000 a year for good relations.

Oahu Wind PowerPartners, a local LLC with an office in Oregon and a financing relationship with Chevron, has 230 acres at Kahuku, but no PPA. It was planning to build a $94 million 25MW wind farm in response to HECO's 100MW Request for Renewables, but was eliminated from the award group last week. It has filed a contested case proceeding at the Public Utility Commission.

Oahu Wind has also applied for a permit from the Department of Land and Natural Resources to build a large (270MW) ocean wind farm off Campbell Park. That's not a slam dunk either, but Oahu Wind recognizes the need for multiple alternatives.

Last month, Sempra Generation, a giant wind company based in San Diego, acquired Auwahi Wind Energy, the 20MW Shell wind project at 'Ulupalakua, and will presumably take it to completion.

Soon enough, we'll have wind generation capacity of 100MW on O'ahu, 400MW between Molo-ka'i and Läna'i, 70MW on Maui and 30MW on the Big Island, totaling 600MW. That'll provide half of all the renewables we need for our 2030 goals at a cost of some $2 billion, all of which will be funded by outside capital.

Where the Westinghouse windmills HECO installed in the 1980s fell prey to salt air, the new 2.5MW Clipper Liberty turbines are far beyond that and are designed to last 20 years. New technology, including work being done at the University of Hawai'i, also achieves greater productivity. This makes financing easier.

MISSING IN ACTION

Under the Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009, Washington is putting billions into wind and solar. So is private industry. This is good for renewables, at least in some places. But is Hawai'i investing?

Hawai'i's wind is dominated by only a few developers, based mostly outside of the state. They have access to all the capital they want, and it all comes from somewhere else.

You don't find local entrepreneurs building wind projects. They can get the land, the PPAs, and all the turbines and technical advice they need, but they can't get the capital.

Only the big players can get the capital, and they will be making big returns on Hawai'i's resources. They can provide investors with returns of 10 percent or more, and that's pretty attractive for a resource as sure as wind in a market as predictable as energy.

INVEST IN THYSELF

Are we unwilling to invest in our own entrepreneurs? This could be the greatest squander of all. Kamehameha Schools, with $9 billion, is a principal in Pacific BioEnergy, which does biofuel, but not wind. The Hawaii Employees' Retirement System, with another $9 billion, doesn't invest in any local tech or energy.

Why can't we encourage investors to invest in local wind, or at least give local entrepreneurs some competitive advantage? Texas-like joint ventures with the Chinese are infinitely better than surrendering our prerogatives.

The trajectory is clear — big companies from afar are going to own our wind. While Gov. Linda Lingle hopes that innovation will save our economy, we're losing that to capital interests who come to eat our lunch, leaving us as dutiful consumers but not as investors or managers. We'll get a handful of jobs, but the profits will fly away.

What exactly is the difference between sending billions to offshore wind companies and sending billions to offshore oil companies? Unless we get in the game, this will lead us to an unsustainable, big box, cargo cult economy and inevitably the attrition of our standard of living and way of life.