Fix It! Big Island Building’s Solar Panel System Is On The Blink — Again
It costs taxpayers $4,000 every month that system isn’t producing electricity.
County Council members were deep in discussion last week about amending the Big Island’s general plan to address global climate change when council member Matt Kanealiʻi-Kleinfelder raised a bothersome issue closer to home.
The large photovoltaic solar array on the roof of the Hawaiʻi County Building where council members were meeting isn’t working, he told his colleagues, and it’s unclear when the system will be back on line producing power.
There was an awkward pause, followed by discussion about who should be responsible for maintaining the PV system.
“Somebody has got to take charge of that,” he said. It turns out Kanealiʻi-Kleinfelder, who worked in the solar industry for a decade, was right on the money.
Tom Callis, public information officer for Hawaiʻi County Mayor Kimo Alameda, confirmed in a statement the rooftop system is out of commission, and electricity billing records suggest the system went offline sometime in August 2024.
“With the system offline, the monthly electricity bills for this building have on average increased by about $4,000,” Callis said.
The PV system was installed on the roof of the 45,000-square-foot building as part of a three-year, $28 million renovation project that began in 2006. County officials said at the time the 100-kilowatt solar system would reduce energy consumption in the building by 42%.
But Kanealiʻi-Kleinfelder said this is not the first time the system has failed. He noticed in 2019 the utility box for the system wasn’t emitting the high-pitched hum it normally makes when it’s working.
He reported the problem to the county Department of Public Works, but said it was many months before the system was fixed.
Then Kanealiʻi-Kleinfelder noticed about a month ago the system was down again, and again notified the department.
“Fast forward, my frustration now is this is 2025 and I’ve been through this before,” he said. “You check the screen, and it’s flashing red, it says ‘error.’ I thought we had taken care of this.”
“We don’t ever seem to take that next step as far as accountability, but we talk about what we should do, and it just made that general plan discussion that much more frustrating,” he said.
Callis said an inverter may need to be replaced, and the Department of Public Works is assessing the system to see what repairs are required.
Neil Azevedo, acting director of the Department of Public Works, said in a statement, “it was recently brought to our attention that the solar energy system for the County building in Hilo is offline. We are working to resolve the matter and hope to have the system up and running again as soon as possible.”
Who Can Be Contacted?
Tom Callis is public information officer for Hawaiʻi County Mayor Kimo Alameda. His number is (808) 961-8211.
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