With each of our projects, we strive to find ways in which we can benefit local people, organizations, and infrastructure.
Building state-of-the-art solar and battery storage farms isn’t our only commitment. We’re also committed to giving back to the communities where we work and live with our neighbors. In each of our projects, we strive to support local organizations, nonprofits and infrastructure. From sponsoring educational partnerships to awarding community grants, our giving back initiatives allow us to build healthier communities and form long-lasting, meaningful relationships with our project neighbors.To help our giving back efforts, we have partnered with Hawai'i institutions as we fund projects related to education, historic preservation, public safety, economic development, and public recreation.
Our credo in communities: listen, partner, and invest. With each of our projects, we strive to find ways in which we can benefit local organizations, nonprofits, and infrastructure. From sponsoring educational partnerships to awarding community grants, our giving back initiatives allow us to build healthier communities and form long-lasting, meaningful relationships with our project neighbors.
In Hawaii and across the country, Clearway is committed to investing in the communities that host our projects. That investment includes:
Education is the core of Clearway’s investment in communities across the country. In Hawaii, our flagship program is supported through an ongoing partnership with Kamehameha Schools and Blue Planet Foundation.
Since 2019, over a dozen students have participated in our Hawaii summer internship program, gaining exposure to clean energy career opportunities while developing soft skills and technical skills.
Clearway’s industry-leading education programs also include a 10-year collaboration with Blue Planet Foundation (BPF) and Kamehameha Schools. The work with BPF includes clean energy curriculum development, sponsorship of the annual Student Energy Summit held in Honolulu, hosting site tours for students from local schools.
Clearway's Adopt-A-School Program and partnership with KidWind provide opportunities to help young people in the communities that host our wind and solar sites learn about renewable energy. Through our programs, Clearway's staff partners with local schools on educational activities and serves as mentors to students. Adopt-A-School activities include tours of our wind and solar sites, demonstrations at career fairs and school assemblies, and support of school facilities and activities. Many of our Adopt-a-School programs support education in disadvantaged communities. Clearway’s development projects in Hawaii will each establish robust Adopt-A-School partnerships.
Each of Clearway’s development projects in Hawaii have dedicated annual Community Benefit Funds packages ranging from $60,000 to $240,000, depending on the size of the project. Clearway’s Community Benefit Funds all serve the same purpose: to provide financial resources directly to local organizations making a positive impact in the community. Qualified local organizations can apply for each project’s benefit fund grants, and each fund is administered throughout the year or annually by local independent allocation committees.
Clearway supports workforce development and local hiring everywhere we work. We prioritize hiring workers in the construction and operation of these projects from areas in proximity to the project sites. Once operational, we employ local full-time staff members who reside on the same island. Clearway is committed to using 100% prevailing wage and union labor as part of the project construction.
Clearway has been proud to partner with Hawaii Agricultural Research Center (HARC) in order to complete the first phase of agrivoltaics research conducted at Clearway’s operational project site on land owned by Clearway at Lanikuhana Solar in the Mililani Agricultural Park.
As a result of the limited supply of land across the islands that can be permitted and utilized for both solar energy production and agriculture, it is essential to find ways that solar and agriculture can productively share the same land to effectively achieve these important goals.
The HARC research partnership explores the viability, productivity, and profitability of future agrivoltaic (AV) projects.The project has been highlighted in numerous site visits from stakeholders and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.