Kamehameha Schools and SunEdison Inc. got a green light from the state Land Use Commission on Thursday to establish what would be the state’s biggest solar farm — generating up to 115 megawatts — on land in Waiawa previously approved for a master-planned residential community.
The commission voted 7-0 to amend a 1988 decision allowing urban development so that photovoltaic energy production can be an interim use on part of the site. Up to 7,900 homes had been proposed for the 1,395-acre parcel between Pearl City and Waipio.
Giorgio Caldarone, a regional asset manager for Kamehameha Schools, told the commission at a hearing last month that the trust could have a new master plan focused on residential and commercial uses within five years, and that development could start on the lower portion of the site near Pearl City and two planned city rail stations.
On the upper portion of the property, SunEdison aims to start building a 50-megawatt first phase on about 300 acres by June and be generating power by June 2016. A power purchase agreement with Hawaiian Electric Co. is in the works and would need to be approved by the state Public Utilities Commission.
A 65-megawatt second phase on 277 acres is more tentative, though SunEdison’s senior Hawaii manager, Nicola Doss, said it likely would have to be done within five years to be viable.
Besides the Land Use Commission and PUC approvals, SunEdison will need a conditional use permit from the city.
Projected rough development costs are $150 million to $200 million for the first phase and $180 million to more than $200 million for a second phase, according to Doss.
Phase one would have the capacity to generate enough electricity needed to power 9,800 homes at rates that would save consumers $145 million over the envisioned 20- to 25-year life of the project. A second phase would have a production capacity to meet the energy needs of 12,740 homes at a savings of $188 million.
The project, if realized, would be the state’s largest photovoltaic power plant, eclipsing a 12-megawatt facility on Kauai that began operating in July to become Hawaii’s biggest solar farm.
