Developers behind a solar and battery project in South Maui say a new court ruling will delay construction on the 15-megawatt solar, 60-megawatt-hour battery storage project slated for 150 acres mauka of Maui Meadows.

A 2nd Circuit Court decision will allow the Maui Meadows Neighborhood Association and the Pono Power Coalition to intervene on the Paeahu Solar project before the Maui Planning Commission, according to project officials and an attorney for the community groups.

“The court’s ruling is, in fact, an important win for Maui’s environment,” attorney Christina Lizzi told The Maui News on Friday. “It is not necessary that clean energy come at the cost of loss of precious species and cultural artifacts, and greatly increased flood and fire risk. We look forward to engaging with the commission and Innergex to explore solutions that can provide clean energy and protect Maui’s precious environment.”

Officials with Innergex, the Canadian-based company proposing Paeahu Solar, said the project will now be forced to undergo “yet another proceeding.”

“This is a setback for Maui as it seeks the benefits of transitioning to a clean, inexpensive and abundant energy source,” Oliver Robson, senior project manager at Innergex, said in a statement on Thursday. “The Paeahu Solar project is a critical component in achieving Hawaii’s renewable energy goals and, as importantly, in meeting the growing energy demands of the South Maui community.

“Yesterday’s ruling will not only delay the start of construction for the project but will impact the original commissioning date and Maui residents will continue to pay for expensive, GHG (greenhouse gas) emitting, imported fossil fuel-based electricity.”

Innergex was one of several companies selected by Hawaiian Electric in 2018 to build clean energy projects in Hawaii as part of the state’s push toward 100 percent renewable energy by 2045.

Under a 25-year agreement with the company, Hawaiian Electric planned to purchase power from the project at 12 cents per kilowatt-hour. Once it comes online, Paeahu Solar is expected to power about 6,900 Maui households, according to its website.

However, the project has come up against opposition from some nearby residents who have expressed concerns over the price of electricity Hawaiian Electric would pay to receive, impacts to endangered species and cultural artifacts, fire and flooding risks and the size of the project, which they said was better suited to industrial areas.

Innergex has countered that the project will ease Maui’s reliance on fuel prices and ultimately reduce the rates that customers pay. They point out that project officials have taken steps to appease concerns, including moving solar panels farther away from the neighborhood, and that years of extensive studies have shown that the current site is best suited for the project.

In 2020, after a contested case hearing, the state Public Utilities Commission approved the project. And in May of last year, the Maui Planning Commission approved a county special use permit for project while denying the community groups’ request to intervene, saying at the time that the neighborhood association’s 91 members made up a small portion of the subdivision’s 600 lots.

Lizzi said the planning commission “failed to take into account the ways they would be impacted,” and that intervention exists to make sure residents get their due process and have their concerns vetted before projects move forward.

“It’s incredibly important that we take a close look at all projects that are moving forward and that we pay attention to the things that are taking place in our ahupuaas, especially when they’re going to have a largescale impact on the environmental and historical sites,” Lizzi said.

HNU Energy, a Maui-based solar company selected to design and build Paeahu Solar, expressed disappointment with the court’s decision, saying local subcontractors have spent the past year preparing to begin construction on the project.

“This is devastating for us, our subcontractors, the Maui ratepayers, and the estimated one hundred local construction workers and engineers which the project would employ,” Michael Reiley, president of HNU Energy, said in a statement on Thursday. “I find it hard to fathom how a handful of residents with a ‘not-in-my-backyard’ mentality, can overrule the majority of Maui residents who overwhelmingly support this project, our local workforce and the advancement of Hawaii’s clean energy goals.”

Once a final judgment is issued in the coming weeks, the project will be sent back to the planning commission with instructions to grant intervention, Lizzi said. Mediation between parties may follow, and then, depending on how that goes, the project may move to a contested case.

* Colleen Uechi can be reached at cuechi@mauinews.com.