The state is asking University of Hawaii researchers to study the best possible routes for an undersea cable that would deliver electricity from Lanai and Molokai wind farms to other islands.

The cable would be at least 30 miles long.
It would be capable of connecting large wind farms proposed for Lanai and Molokai with the power grids of those two islands as well as power grids on the more heavily populated islands of Maui and Oahu.
The state said Thursday it has contracted the UH School of Ocean and Earth Science to do the survey.
The cable is part of Gov. Linda Lingle’s effort to obtain 70 percent of Hawaii’s energy from clean sources by 2030.
The state now gets about 10 percent of its energy from renewable sources.