UPC Wind, a Massachusetts-based wind power company, has pledged $50 million to a campaign attempting to buy back land on the Hawaiian island of Moloka’I from offshore owners. The company then plans to build a windfarm on the community-owned lands.
The campaign, called Ho’i I Ka Pono, is being led by the non-profit Moloka’i Community Service Council (MCSC), which was founded in 1974 and aims to purchase all of the lands now owned by Molokai Properties Limited, a.k.a. Molokai Ranch.
“The only way to protect Moloka’i’s culture, environment and lifestyle is to give the people who live here the power to decide how to manage our limited resources,” said Karen M. Holt, Executive Director of the Moloka’i Community Service Council. “UPC Wind’s pledge is a significant step toward helping the Moloka’i community to achieve this goal.”
Paul Gaynor, President and CEO of UPC Wind said, “In addition to showing our support for the Ho’i I Ka Pono campaign, our pledge underscores our commitment to the people of Moloka’i and their efforts to determine how their lands will be used in the future.”
He continued, “Once the community has regained control of the lands owned by Molokai Ranch, we will work directly with community members to lease a portion of the land to build a 21st century wind farm that will generate clean wind energy for Moloka’i and O’ahu.”
In addition to producing clean energy, the groups say a wind farm would provide lease revenue to the Moloka’i community and keep the land rural and accessible for traditional uses such as farming, hunting and cultural practices. Holt says that this revenue “will help to ensure that we can manage these lands for generations to come.”
In Hawai’i, UPC Wind built the state’s largest wind energy facility, the Maui-based 30-megawatt Kaheawa Wind Power project. The wind farm serves approximately 9% of Maui’s annual electricity needs with clean, renewable energy – enough to supply nearly 11,000 households. A significant part of the Kaheawa project was the development of the nation’s first and only Habitat Conservation Plan for a working wind energy project.
“UPC Wind takes environmental and cultural issues very seriously. Our record demonstrates our dedication to doing things right,” said Noelani Kalipi, Director of Government and Community Relations for UPC Wind. “As the developer, owner and operator of a wind farm, we have an incentive to do it right from the beginning, because we remain accountable to the community for the 20 years or more our projects are running.”
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