ANAHOLA — REC Solar won the competitive bid to build Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative’s 12 megawatt solar farm on 53 acres of Native Hawaiian lands in Anahola licensed by the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, the Homestead Community Development
ANAHOLA — REC Solar won the competitive bid to build Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative’s 12 megawatt solar farm on 53 acres of Native Hawaiian lands in Anahola licensed by the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, the Homestead Community Development Corporation announced Thursday.
“This is pretty exciting,” Robin Danner, HCDC board president, said in the release. “It’s a fantastic collaboration between our community development nonprofit and our local utility nonprofit to make something good happen for Kauai, and really for the whole state.”
Representatives from the Homestead Community Development Corp., KIUC and REC Solar held a kick-off meeting on Dec. 29 to coordinate next steps on the project.
“We are extremely pleased that HCDC and KIUC were able to work together to make this project possible,” Phil Tacbian, chairman of KIUC’s Board of Directors, said in the release. “Developing photovoltaic and hydroelectric power projects is a key part of KIUC’s strategic plan. Our nonprofit structure, including our ability to borrow money at low interest rates, means we will develop lower-cost projects than for-profit developers, resulting in savings for the people of Kaua‘i.”
The kick-off meeting began a six- to nine-month period to complete an environmental assessment of the project site and develop an employment outreach plan for Kaua‘i residents and qualified local businesses that will be needed during the construction phase of the project, the release states.
“This meeting was important to ensure all of us are working toward common goals, and included the environmental assessment firm, the contractor and, of course, the KIUC-HCDC team,” Brad Rockwell, KIUC’s production manager, said in the release. “The next steps are to get started on the environmental assessment, which includes a cultural impact assessment and to start planning employment outreach.”
HCDC and KIUC are focused on maximizing the number of local Kaua‘i residents and Anahola residents to work on the project, the release states.
“We think there will be somewhere between 75 and 100 positions, from laborers to electrical journeyman, needed,” Danner said. “As we get to know the REC Solar requirements and their employment processes, we want to help connect as many people as possible.”
The partnership between HCDC and KIUC was struck in August 2011 and is designed to mutually benefit the co-op, its membership and the Hawaiian Home Land Trust created by Congress in 1920, the release states.
“Through the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, Prince Jonah Khi Kalaniana‘ole’s vision of returning native Hawaiians to their ancestral lands was all about rehabilitation of the Hawaiian people,” said Alapaki Nahale-a, chairman of the Hawaiian Homes Commission and director of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. “This project is a perfect example of Prince Khi’s legacy — native Hawaiians shaping their own destiny through economic self-sufficiency. We congratulate HCDC and KIUC on this venture and commend their willingness to work with the Hawaiian Home Lands Trust to move this renewable energy project forward as a way of generating more revenues for homesteading opportunities.”
