Solar project helps Moloka'i
Advertiser Staff
KAUNAKAKAI, Moloka'i — Moloka'i has among the highest electricity rates in the nation, but power bills will be going down soon for several hundred of the island's households.
A new program will install solar water heating systems, mostly paid for through a $1.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's High Energy Cost Rural Communities program.
For Moloka'i residents with electric water heaters, heating water represents as much as 45 percent of their monthly power bill, said Joanne Ide, a supervisor with Maui Electric Co., which has arranged with half a dozen solar contractors to install the water-heating systems.
Prices vary depending on size and type of unit, but the systems could cost around $4,000, of which Maui Electric will pick up $1,000 through one of its programs. The homeowners will pay $300 to $500, and the USDA grant will cover the rest.
Ide said each homeowner will be required to take an energy-efficiency class to learn about maintaining the solar systems and related topics. She said the program's administrators decided to have homeowners pay a portion of the cost to increase the number of families that can be served and because they are more likely to take care of units if they have a financial stake in them.
Partners in the Solar for Moloka'i program include USDA Rural Development, Maui Electric, Maui Economic Opportunity, Ke Aupuni Lokahi, Moloka'i Community Services Council, the county Department of Housing and Human Concerns, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the
Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.
The partners plan a grand opening ceremony, 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Ke Aupuni Lokahi office near the USDA office on Moloka'i, and will begin accepting applications immediately afterward.
The first Energy Smart Living class will be held at 1 p.m. that afternoon at the Queen Lili'uokalani Children's Center.
The first installations of solar systems could begin in midsummer, Ide said.
The program is open to all families on the island. Applications will be weighted by factors such as family size, income and whether there are elderly persons in the home. Application guidelines were developed with the assistance of the program partners, Ide said, and some larger families may receive systems with larger capacity.
