State Sen. Tim Richards has an idea on how to provide more renewable energy and clean water to Hawaiʻi Island residents.
His pitch? A pumped storage hydropower plant on Kohala Mountain.
"Kohala Mountain, it was almost designed to have a hydroelectric situation," Richards told people at a Waimea community town hall meeting last week.
The project would create a series of water reservoirs on the mountain. When electricity is needed, water would be released from the highest reservoirs and flow through turbines to generate power. That water could then be pumped back up to the top of the system to be stored for later use.
Richards is proposing that the project be built on property held by the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.
"What this would do — what it will do — is generate an income stream for Hawaiian homes," he claimed.
He also suggested that some of the water stored in the plant’s reservoirs could be filtered and provided to DHHL beneficiaries.
Richards noted that the proposal is still in early stages, but he estimate the plant could provide about 15% of the county's electricity. He expects it would take six to eight years to bring the project online.
"The best time to start it was yesterday," he said. "Second best is today."
