VIDEO: Final turbine topples at Kamaoa Windfarm

SOUTH POINT, Hawaii: Here’s some video from South Point that we here at Big Island Video News have been looking forward to seeing… the last of the Kamaoa Windfarm turbines takes the plunge.

We can thank Waiohinu resident Lee Terry for that footage. Terry has spent quite a lot of time at the sight of the monumental dismantling, capturing the historic moments with his camera. We met up with him last week, when the last of the windmills stood amidst a landscape of fallen giants.

The windfarm opened in 1987, but was decommissioned five years ago, after owner Apollo Energy Corp’s 20-year contract with the power company expired. Once all the scrap metal is shipped off to China, the land is expected to go to the cows… serving ranchers as pasture lands.

But the era of windmills at South Point is not over. A few miles away, clearly visible from the cliffs of Ka Lae, these 14 windmills turn constantly in the strong breeze. The Tawhiri Power LLC Pakini Nui Wind Farm, a joint venture between Apollo Energy and EFS-G LLC, is a 21-megawatt facility. It went online in April 2007.

For now, mahalo to Lee Terry for his video vigil by the last of the windmills, and for capturing this historic drop.