Promising energy project on Kauai could set the island on a track to surpass the new goal of 70 percent energy generation from renewable resources by 2030.
The anticipated $80 million to $100 million Kauai Island Utility Cooperative pumped storage hydro project would use Kokee Ditch, Puu Lua and Puu Opae reservoirs, as well as the reservoir on the Mana plain.
Staff members from KIUC presented an update on the planned project to about 50 people at the Waimea Theater on Tuesday evening.
The pump storage hydro project stores power like a battery. It uses electrical power from photovoltaic panels to push water up a hill from a lower reservoir during the day. Then, in the evening that water flows back down the hill, through turbines.
Water will be collected in Puu Lua reservoir and shuffled between that reservoir and the Puu Opae reservoir, and then enter a gravity fed irrigation system leading to the Mana plain for Department of Hawaiian Homelands, Agribusiness Development Corporation and Kekaha Agriculture Association lands.
It will also serve as a backup source for Menehune Ditch.
Creating the pumped storage hydro system will include repairing Kokee Ditch, rehabilitating the three reservoirs, two new sections of buried pipeline, and build two new powerhouses.
KIUC has been working on the project for a few years already and land agreements are expected to take two or three more months. Once those are solidified, three years of engineering, studying and permitting is expected.
All said and done, the project should take up to two years to build and construction is expected to begin in 2021 if the project moves forward according to plan.