Molokai’s Energy Coop Selects Developer

Ho‘ahu Energy Coop News Release

Ho‘ahu Energy Cooperative Molokai invites you to join us for our first virtual workshop of 2021 on Saturday, Jan. 23, 9 to 10:30 a.m.

At this workshop you’ll have a chance to hear about the coop’s two important milestones over the last month: applying for incorporation for the cooperative and selecting an additional energy development partner. We also need your input on important upcoming decisions about our project proposal including:

Subscription model: setting goals and guidelines for who can sign up to save money on their energy bills from the project and

Physical project design: deciding where the project will go and what it will look like.

If you would like to attend this virtual public meeting, please reach out to Ali Andrews, CEO of Shake Energy Collaborative, at ali@shake-energy.com.

Our founding community members selected an official name for the cooperative: Ho‘ahu Energy Cooperative Molokai. Ho‘ahu means to gather, to collect, or to store—and is symbolic of the group’s effort to gather support and input from residents across Molokai as well as to store energy in batteries. This incorporation follows our lengthy effort to draft the articles of incorporation and bylaws for the cooperative during weekly meetings in Fall 2020.

Ho‘ahu Coop has also recently completed interviewing energy development companies to partner on a proposal to Hawaiian Electric’s upcoming Community-Based Renewable Energy (CBRE) Request For Proposals. Those interviews were held over zoom and open to the public—recordings are available. Out of the six energy development companies interviewed, we selected Mana Pacific, a Maui-based public benefit corporation.

Mana Pacific will partner with Ho‘ahu Energy Cooperative Molokai and our initial development partner, Shake Energy Collaborative, to draft a proposal for a solar and battery energy storage installation.

We hope you’ll join us this weekend to make your voice heard in this project!