Inspired by the Waiʻanae Valley Homestead community’s desire to make renewable energy more equitable and affordable, this community-led effort is about responsibly stewarding the development of solar energy to create meaningful benefits for the community today and for their future generations.

In the Summer of 2021, discussions were being had about energy sovereignty and energy justice in the community. As a result, a team of Waiʻanae Moku residents decided to form the Waiʻanae Sustainability Cooperative (WSC) and partner with Shake Energy Collaborative to explore how solar energy could be designed and owned by the community in order to benefit the community. After a year of discussion, the group decided to take advantage of the utility’s Phase 2 CBRE RFP. WSC and Shake invited the community to co-design all aspects of the project from site selection, technology used, to project benefits distribution. As of today, a proposal for a 250 kW solar project (with no batteries) is being promoted. As a consumer cooperative, WSC will own and operate a CBRE project designed by the community, for the community.