The state’s largest solar energy project planned for Kauai would have no significant environmental or cultural impacts, according to a environmental assessment for the project released today.

Kauai Island Utility Cooperative plans to break ground as early as the third quarter of this year on the 12-megawatt project that would occupy 60 acres in Anahola owned by the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.

The utility said it intends to seek financing from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Utilities Service for the $55 million project.

The 588-page environmental assessment was prepared for KIUC by the Honolulu-based planning company Planning Solutions. The report noted that the project site has been “significantly altered” from its original condition as the result of sugar cane cultivation.