A Sustainable Future at Kona Village, A Rosewood Resort
Currently undergoing a major renovation by Kennedy Wilson, Kona Village, a Rosewood Resort is located on the Kohala Coast of Hawaii, where electrical power is generated primarily by burning diesel fuel and electricity rates are among the highest in the United States. Kennedy Wilson’s construction and engineering teams have pursued an ambitious plan for Kona Village to become the first self-sustaining resort in the United States with a goal of generating and storing 100% renewable energy onsite. The photovoltaic technology will reduce operating costs while contributing to the sustainability and environmental preservation of the Hawaiian Islands.
Kennedy Wilson has partnered with Good Current on a plan to generate an estimated 4 MW of solar energy onsite through two ground mounted solar fields as well as parking canopy and rooftop solar panels. Importantly, the energy will be stored onsite in state-of-the-art Tesla batteries that can hold approximately 12 MWh of energy, so that the excess generated during the daylight hours can be used to power the resort through the night and during cloudy periods of the day. The energy storage system provides an additional community benefit of reducing stress on the Hawaii Island grid operation, since the energy storage system will operate to reduce the peak demand of the resort.
"We are proud to embrace renewable solar technology and to do our part in helping the state to reach its Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative, which calls for 100% renewable portfolio standards by 2045. We see this program as a win-win-win – we are reducing costs while reducing our environmental footprint, and we anticipate our commitment to sustainability will play an important role in attracting today’s discerning travelers to Kona Village when we open in 2023,” said Michael Eadie, Managing Director of Development and Construction at Kennedy Wilson.
Beyond its ground-breaking photovoltaic system, Kona Village will pursue LEED Gold certification for several of the resort’s amenity buildings. Other sustainability initiatives include minimizing the use of potable water onsite, with all water used to irrigate landscaping generated from onsite brackish wells and recycled waste water, and stored in a 1.2-million-gallon irrigation lagoon at Kona Village. The irrigation water is filtered through a solar-powered reverse osmosis system, or recycled through an onsite wastewater treatment plant.
