Waimea  Community Association will have a Facebook Live community meeting this evening at 5:30.  The sole topic will be the AES DE Waikoloa Solar Plus Storage Project, which now has a PUC-approved Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) and is moving forward with planning, engineering and conducting environmental, archaeological and community safety studies.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the need for Hawaii Island and the state to be more self sufficient, concern about this far pre-dates the pandemic with the State Legislature in 2008 committing to 100% Clean Energy by 2045.  In 2018, Hawaiian Electric, the statewide major power provider which includes providing power for the Big Island, issued RFPs for eight major alternative energy projects statewide including two for Hawai’i Island.  AES Distributed Energy (AES DE) was one of the two for this island.  AES DE was in fact selected for three of HECO’s statewide projects.

James Hustace, WCA President, will moderate the meeting.  He says after the AES presentation, he’ll ask questions.  Anybody may submit questions in advance to waimeacommunityassocation@gmail.com or comment on the live Facebook feed during the event.

The meeting will begin at 5:30 today, at https://www.facebook.com/waimeacommunityassociation