REC Solar and KIUC have started a 12 MW solar project on Hawaiian Homelands in Anahola. The two companies, along with Homestead Community Development Corporation (HCDC), kicked off a meeting together to discuss about the next steps they will have to follow in carrying out the project.
In August 2011, HCDC and KIUC formed a partnership to investigate the feasibility of developing a project on Hawaiian homelands that would benefit the Hawaiian Home Land Trust formed by Congress in 1920, the co-op and the people of Kauai. HCDC and KIUC awarded the contract to REC Solar for the solar project. The contract was awarded in December through a competing bidding process. This facility will make the integrated solar capacity of KIUC to approximately 20 MW, and it is REC Solar's second utility-scale project for KIUC. Earlier, REC Solar and KIUC worked together on a 1.21 MW system in Kapaa.
The partnership received approval to distribute $68 million of loan funds, which were approved earlier, to build battery energy storage and integrated photovoltaic systems on Kaua'i. The funds were originally sanctioned for a 10 MW combustion turbine generator usually mentioned as CT2 or Gen X. A portion of the reallocation will be utilized to fund the Anahola project on the northeast of Kauai.
The next steps of the project include making an environmental assessment, mapping out an employment outreach and job fair in the coming months and organizing a cultural assessment team well-versed about the Anahola area. Nearly 35 MW of low-impact hydropower projects are also being studied regarding the feasibility of developing clean, renewable hydropower on Kaua'i.