PUHI — Forty acres of albizia trees have been cleared from the Kauai Community College campus, adding to the island’s green energy, improving views of Mount Waialeale, and making room for the college’s agricultural programs.
“Albizia grows quickly and creates a canopy that shades everything under it so nothing else can grow. Green Energy supported the community by removing the trees from Kauai Community College,” said Michael Mann, former plant manager at Green Energy.
The albizia is used as fuel for the Green Energy Team biomass plant. The company employs just under 40 people and Kauai Island Utility Cooperative buys power from Green Energy Team under a 20-year contract.
The trees grow fast and reach about 120 feet tall. First introduced in 1917 as a reforestation project, 125,000 of them were planted in the first half of the 20th century on land that had been previously damaged by cattle.
Now, about 15 percent of Kauai’s electricity comes from burning the trees, and the charcoal is made into fertilizer.
The clearing had several purposes and is helping the community in many ways, according to Chancellor Helen Cox.
“First the project removes an invasive, fast-growing tree which opens up the land for other uses. Second, the cleared land will enable GoFarm to expand and offer agriculture land to students in the final phase of the program. Third, it provides a renewable fuel source for the island, and fourth, it allows the college to consider and plan for other land uses,” she said.
GoFarm allows student farmers to grow and sell their crops during phase three of the GoFarm Hawaii Program, which is a non-credit University of Hawaii program that trains students to become farmers.
“We’re expanding the GoFarm operation to full capacity so we can run all three phases of the program,” said Eric Hansen, the Kauai program coordinator for GoFarm Hawaii.
Now, students only have access to phase one, a four-month program on the basics of agriculture.
“Now that we have eight acres, we’re expanding to run phase two, which is six months of science and business training. Phase three is the agriculture incubator phase where participants get up to an acre of land for three years,” Hansen said.
“It’s currently designated as agricultural land, so there is no plan to develop buildings there,” said Brandon Shimokawa, KCC vice chancellor of administrative services.
He pointed to the recent statewide push toward food security due to the importation of a vast amount of food and the desire to develop a local farming economy to support the island’s food needs.
“To support that, we need ways to train people to become farmers,” Shimokawa said.
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This story has been edited to reflect that Michael Mann is no longer the plant manager with Green Energy.
For the record, I am no longer the plant manager of the Green Energy Team biomass plant. I was the plant manager when the plant came online, but I am no longer with that organization.