Cost Increases And Lawsuits Have Jeopardized West Kauai Energy Project
The local utility co-op says it has halted development of the hydroelectric portion of the project.
The Kauai Island Utility Cooperative, the island’s community-owned electricity company, announced this week that lawsuits and cost increases have jeopardized a proposed renewable energy project that promises to supply up to a quarter of the island’s total power usage.
Conceived in 2012, the is an integrated pumped storage hydropower, solar and battery project — the first of its kind in the world. Water diverted from the Waimea watershed using plantation-era ditch systems would move between preexisting reservoirs to produce power, reducing the island’s reliance on fossil fuels.
Part of the project generates energy by moving water in a closed-loop system and is not in dispute. The subject of controversy is the portion of the system that would divert water outside of the watershed — a hotly contested plantation-era practice that for over a century dried up streams across the state in order to feed monocrop agriculture.
On Wednesday the utility said that lawsuits filed by Earthjustice on behalf of concerned West Kauai taro farmers and fishermen “have resulted in critical project deadlines being missed due to continued project uncertainty,” according to a press release.
KIUC has halted development of the hydroelectric portion of the project. Instead, the utility will study the feasibility of a scaled-back design powered by only the proposed solar pumped storage hydro system.
But in , the utility said that the solar-powered side of the project is “also at risk of cancellation.”
“Delays caused by lawsuits filed by Earthjustice have resulted in critical project deadlines being missed due to continued project uncertainty,” the press release states.
issued a press release Thursday expressing support for the scaled-back project.
