LIHUE — Kauai Island Utility Cooperative will hold a small dedication and groundbreaking ceremony Thursday for its $54 million solar project in Anahola. Slated to be operational by early 2015, it will be the second-largest solar array in Hawaii, the
LIHUE — Kauai Island Utility Cooperative will hold a small dedication and groundbreaking ceremony Thursday for its $54 million solar project in Anahola.
Slated to be operational by early 2015, it will be the second-largest solar array in Hawaii, the largest being the KIUC-owned facility in Koloa.
“It helps us meet our renewable energy target,” Dave Bissell, KIUC president and CEO, said of the Anahola project. “Great for the environment. Great for the people of Kauai.”
KIUC says the Anahola project will enable the co-op to reduce its use of imported oil by 1.7 million gallons per year, and provide 5 percent of Kauai’s annual energy needs — enough electricity to power 4,000 homes. During daylight hours, about 20 percent of the island’s electricity will come from the array.
The facility will consist of 59,000 ground-mounted panels on 53 acres, a 5-acre service station and a substation to connect the facility to the grid. The 60-acre project is on a 422-acre parcel of Department of Hawaiian Home Lands land along Kuhio Highway. After the 25-year lease is up, ownership of the array will transfer to DHHL.
Bissell said the idea to have a solar farm in that location came from the Anahola community, and serves as a model for how cooperatives can work with their members to achieve great things.
“It’s going to be good for our member ratepayers, good for the Anahola community,” he said.
Currently, about 15 percent of KIUC’s electricity comes from hydropower and solar resources.
By the time the Anahola facility is up and running, however, Bissell said that number will be closer to 40, once both large solar arrays and Green Energy Team’s biomass facility in Koloa are online.
“The transformation of the island’s energy supply is ongoing,” Bissell said.
Robin Danner, executive director of the Anahola Hawaiian Homes Association, which initiated discussions with KIUC in 2011 to bring the project to Hawaiian lands, said she could not be happier to see construction begin after three years of hard work.
“It feels good to know that we are doing something for our Hawaiian people, but also for everyone on Kauai,” she said.
Kipukai Kualii, AHHA’s vice president, said he is excited because the project generates market lease rents for the Hawaiian Home Lands Trust while also generating clean, renewable energy and lower electricity costs for homesteaders and all Kauai residents.
“I see this as a great opportunity for DHHL Trust beneficiaries and Anahola homesteaders to build strong, successful relationships that will make our Anahola Solar Facility a leading example of community nonprofits working together for a sustainable, renewable future,” he wrote in an email.
Among those expected to attend Thursday’s groundbreaking is Hawaii Lt. Gov. Shan Tsutsui. While the event is not open to the public, Bissell said KIUC is planning for a second ceremony once the facility is finished.
“It’s more fun to see an operating facility than it is to see ground,” he said.
In November, KIUC began construction of its $40 million facility in Koloa, the largest solar project in Hawaii. Both the Koloa and Anahola projects are part of KIUC’s strategic plan to use renewable resources to generate 50 percent of Kauai’s electricity by 2023.
• Chris D’Angelo, environment writer, can be reached at 245-0441 or cdangelo@thegardenisland.com.
