With the passage last year of the President Trump-backed “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” severely rolling back clean energy investments, the company behind a $241 million solar project in Central Maui is working feverishly to get through the permitting process and have enough time to build the facility so it can be operational by the end of 2028.

“We need to take advantage of certain tax credits that will expire by then,” Calvert Chipchase, an attorney with Cades Shutte and legal counsel on the project team, told the Maui Planning Commission on Tuesday.

“If we don’t make that date, then this project is not viable.”

The Kūihelani Solar Phase 2 project is designed to power about 18,425 homes annually for at least 20 years and at a fixed price, according to AES Hawaiʻi’s 2,282-page application for a Maui County special use permit.

Support for the project was overwhelming. County and state officials said it will help Hawaiʻi reach the state’s clean energy initiative of 100% of its electrical needs coming from renewable sources by 2045. As of 2025, about 41.5% of Maui Electric Company’s electricity came from renewable sources.

Supporters also said it will help make up for the energy production that will be lost by the upcoming decommissioning of aging fossil fuel-fired plants in Central Maui. A parade of construction workers and their union representatives testified in favor of the project in person, touting the expected creation of 1,541 good paying jobs and $90 million in labor income. And, the project even will benefit a nonprofit that has operations dealing with bees and sheep.

On Tuesday, the Planning Commission voted 7-0 to approve the county special use permit, although the commission needs to also approve a decision of notice at its next meeting before AES Hawaiʻi can go before the Land Use Commission to seek a state special use permit. The company has a tentative place on the Land Use Commission’s Aug. 19 meeting agenda, Chipchase said.

In a March 20 letter from the Hawaiʻi State Energy Office, Chief Energy Officer Mark B. Glick wrote that support for the project partly stems from AES Hawaiʻi having “successfully” brought online Kūihelani Solar Phase 1. That solar project began commercial operations two years ago and now supplies about 15% of Maui’s electrical needs, according to company officials.

Kūihelani Solar Phase 2, which is proposed to be built next to the Phase 1 site, will be a little smaller with a 40-megawatt solar photovoltaic system with about 107,000 solar modules, 24 conversion stations and companion battery units that can store a total of 160 megawatt hours. This project is estimated to meet nearly 10% of Maui County’s electricity needs, said Nick Molinari, senior director of project development.

“So people come home, they turn on their appliances, the electricity demand starts to ramp up. Right now what happens is the fossil fuel facilities need to ramp up to meet that demand. This project would allow that demand to be met by discharging the solar energy from these batteries,” Molinari said.

AES Hawaiʻi said it will construct the Maui Electric Company switchyard and interconnection lines and then transfer ownership to MECO, which is a subsidiary of Hawaiian Electric Industries and the main provider of electrical power to the island.

The power from the solar plant will be connected to MECO’s islandwide grid.

MECO has entered into an agreement with the solar company to buy its power from this facility at a fixed rate for at least 20 years at $0.15476 per kilowatt hour, which was filed with the Hawai’i Public Utilities Commission on Dec. 23, 2025. This agreement needs the commission’s approval.

It is higher than the $0.08 per kilowatt hour that was negotiated for Kūihelani Solar Phase 1.

Molinari told the Planning Commission that the fixed rate is important because “as we’re seeing with global events right now, and the never-ending cycle of oil price and fossil fuel price volatility, this would provide a meaningful edge and insulation against those sorts of fluctuations.”

Hawaiʻi residents currently pay the most expensive electricity rates in the country, with a rate of 43 cents per kilowatt hour as of February 2026, according to Choose Energy.

“Global conflicts and oil price shocks can show up directly in local electric bills,” Mark Anthony Clemente, political director for the Hawaiʻi Regional Council of Carpenters, testified. “Hawaiian Electric has warned that typical residential bills may rise 20 to 30 percent over the next several months because of higher oil prices. That is exactly why renewable energy is energy security, and energy security is one way we can help control Hawaiʻi’s cost of living.”

The state said the project site is “suited for solar energy development due to its relative flat terrain, easy accessibility, proximity to existing MECO grid infrastructure and relative isolation from homes and communities.” The closest residences in Māʻalaea are about 0.8 miles away.

The state said the Ka Paʻakai Analysis, which included outreach to 46 Native Hawaiian organizations, community members and cultural and lineal descendants, determined that the project will not affect valued cultural, historical or natural resources, including traditional and customary Native Hawaiian rights. 

The project is not expected to significantly impact traffic, with four plantation roads that provide access to the site. At the height of construction, about 200 workers are expected to come and go once a day. There could be another 80 trucks per day. Once construction is over, which will take about 14 to 18 months, only four to five people are required per day for operations.

The solar company has a 25-year ground lease with Mahi Pono, with options that could extend it another 15 years.

Maui County Planning Director Jacky Takakura wrote in support that the project would help replace the lost energy that will occur with the impending retirement of the aging Kahului and Māʻalaea fossil fuel-fired power plants.

The state Office of Planning & Sustainable Development concurred, saying in a May 22 comment letter that the project is especially important because Maui Electric Company is mandated to close those power plants by next year to comply with regional air quality rules. The letter said MECO also is mandated to close the rest of the Māʻalaea Power Plant by 2030 due to the lack of replacement parts for maintenance.

But Hawaiian Electric, which owns MECO, has been lobbying to delay the shutdown of the Kahului Power Plant — which has been in operation since 1948 — by seeking a waiver from the Clean Air Act requirements.

In an Aug. 29 letter to the Environmental Protection Agency, HECO wrote that although it had agreed to retirement deadlines under the Hawaiʻi Regional Haze State Implementation Plan due to high costs of pollution controls and fuel switches, those deadlines were no longer acceptable because of reliability of the grid concerns caused by delays and cancellations of planned replacement generation projects.

On May 15, the EPA announced the partial disapproval of the Hawaiʻi plan. Now, Hawaiʻi is required to submit a revised plan for EPA approval. It is unclear what it will mean for the timeline of the shutdown of the plants.

But the second solar project in Central Maui would divert more than seven million gallons of fossil fuel annually, according to the application.

“Those are fuels that would otherwise need to be imported and burned on island,” Molinari said.

It also is estimated to displace 686,594 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in greenhouse gas emissions over the 20 years. This reduction is equivalent to removing about 160,000 cars from the road for one year or planting 11 million tree seedlings and allowing them to grow for 10 years, according to the Hawaiʻi State Energy Office.

Phase 2 would be built on about 476 acres owned by a subsidiary of Mahi Pono Holdings and in the State Land Use Agricultural District, although only about 250 of those acres will be used.

Sugarcane used to be cultivated on the land, but it has been fallow since 2016 when Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company ceased operations.

Because the land is rated “B,” state law says that compatible agricultural use must be made available at a rate of at least 50% below the fair market value. Chipchase told the Planning Commission the land would be made available at no cost for sheep production and beekeeping.

The project will have three solar arrays mounted on a racking system on steel posts, which allow for the panels to follow the sun throughout the day — and will have rows wide enough to allow for grazing between them. The energy produced is low-voltage, direct current electricity.

Living Pono Project, a Native Hawaiian-led nonprofit on Maui, is expected to oversee the agriculture activities of the project. It plans to use some of the land for a herd of 250 to 350 sheep that would be bred from its existing stock and used for meat, dairy and possible specialty products.

Living Pono Project also would partner with local Nalo Meli Honey for the beekeeping operation.

The solar company said it plans to help subsidize these operations by installing holding pens, shelters and water troughs supplied by onsite tans serviced by water trucks.

“We know ag is a tough business, and we want them to succeed,” Molinari said,

The Living Pono Project now operates a compatible agriculture program at the adjacent Kūihelani Solar Phase 1 site since 2024. That effort has grown to approximately 200 sheep, with anticipated capacity reaching roughly 250 to 350 sheep.

Takakura wrote: “With the sensitivity in and around the project site for wildfire and soil erosion, livestock production and beekeeping were determined to be the most viable agricultural uses with the project site. “

Mary Alice Evans, director the state Office of Sustainability and Development, said in a support letter the benefits of the solar project outweighs the temporary cost of limiting the agricultural use.

The site does not have access to water. If a fire occurs, the solar company said it will have on hand a clean agent fire extinguishment, a fire suppressant that is ideal for delicate electronics because it leaves no residue upon evaporation. Water needed during construction and operation for dust control, washing vehicles, potential revegetation for erosion control, decommissioning and thirsty sheep “will be minimal” and provided by onsite tanks filled by water trucks. Portable sanitation units will be put at the site since there is no sewer hookups available.

AES Hawaiʻi also has committed $120,000 per year in community benefits funding, and that would be directed to communities and community initiatives identified by those closest to the project area.

The county special use permit requested is for 30 years to cover the time needed for development approvals, construction, the operating years and decommissioning at the end of its lifecycle.

The current plan is for AES Hawaiʻi to remove all the solar equipment and properly dispose of it, with some material likely to be shipped off island, and then return the land to the condition it was in before the project. But there was a discussion during the Planning Commission meeting about what would happen then, with the loss of that energy. Possibilities were discussed, but for now the plan remains to decommission the site.

Demond Kabilis, member of Hawaiʻi Regional Council of Carpenters that has 6,000 members with 700 of them in Maui Nui, testified: “This project is not only important for the next generation of workers, it is also important for the workers who are nearing retirement.”

He explained the solar project work often is less physically demanding than many of other construction projects available on Maui.

“I’ve had multiple members come up to me asking me when this project is going to move forward,” Kabilis said, “because they hope it will be their last project before retirement.”