State solar power efforts get federal cash

The U.S. Department of Energy is giving Hawaii more than $6.8 million in grants to fund two solar power projects.

Some $6.1 million of the money is going to the University of Hawaii to develop and demonstrate two smart grid photovoltaic inverter devices.

The remaining $750,000 will help the state Public Utilities Commission set standards to resolve grid-reliability issues and to integrate renewable resources, specifically solar, into the state’s energy mix.

Gov. Neil Abercrombie said in a statement Thursday that renewable energy is critical to sustaining the economy. He said the grants will help Hawaii get closer to achieving its energy goals.

NEIGHBOR ISLANDS

Kau youth program gets $25,000 grant for teens’ training

The 2011 Ka’u Youth Intern Program at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park has been awarded a $25,000 matching grant from the Omidyar ‘Ohana Fund of the Hawai’i Community Foundation.

The grant matched funds raised mostly by the nonprofit Hawai’i Natural History Association, with additional funding from the National Park Service and the Friends of Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park.

The Ka’u Youth Intern Program targets the underserved youth in the rural Kau District for training and employment in the field of environmental conservation.

The 2011 intern program trained 22 Kau High School students over a five-week period during the spring semester. After training, 13 of these Kau youth and six additional local students were hired to work at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park over the summer. The students worked in a number of park divisions, including interpretation and cultural resources management.

Online applications accepted for jobs by Kauai County

Kauai County started accepting job applications online on Thursday.

"It’s much more efficient to manage job applications electronically than paper applications," said Malcolm Fernandez, director of personnel services.

Fernandez said the NEOGOV system is user-friendly and can be accessed 24 hours a day through the county website, www.kauai.gov.

Follow the job opportunities link.

First-time users will need to create an account and select a user name and password. An email address is also required for automatic confirmation.