GridZero Founder shares details of his West Maui Resilience Center project objectives.
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Founder/President/CEO Peter Ortmann shares more about GridZero's history and vision.
West Maui Resilience Center
The West Maui Resilience Center (WMRC) is a visionary, privately funded, passion-driven owner-operated project proposed on ~70 acres of Maui County land in Lahaina, West Maui, Hawaii . The project aims to be Hawaii’s first fully integrated food, water, and energy resilience campus,, with tourist driven facilities, addressing Maui’s long-term local sustainability and disaster preparedness needs. The conceptual design rendering below is designed for this proposed site, although alternate sites are being considered.
Words cannot fully describe the magnitude of the destruction caused by the wildfire disaster that devastated historic Lahaina Town in West Maui, Hawaii in August 2023. The fast spreading wildfire claimed over 100 lives, destroyed 2,100 homes and businesses leaving more than 6,000 residents homelessIn, and many without jobs. In
response to the devastation, & help to rebuild the community and tourist economy, our Founder, a former resident of Lahaina who sailed out of the Lahaina Harbor in the 80's, and planned to retire there one day, had an innovative idea.
The above proposed project rendering is merely a sample layout designed and to be managed by GridZero Inc. of Las Vegas, for its owner and operator the AngelPreneur Venture Group Inc. (APVG), and Clear Blue Oceans Foundation Inc. (CBO Foundation), an ocean focused non-profit organization. Both Hawaii organizations which will locally run by its founder directly once built. Along with the ongoing support of ClubZERO Rewards members and CBO Foundation sponsors. The WMRC project combines:
AgriVoltaic Fruit & Veggie Farms: A citrus & coffee farm growing oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit, papaya, avocados, bananas and coffee beans under 7 – 60,000 SF bifacial solar canopies, plus coffeea 120,000 SF indoor vertical produce and berry farm, a 60,000 SF operations food processing building, 5 acres of pineapple and over 23 acres of coffee beans.
The Plan is to secure a larger site to increase coffee farming, and water production, clean power generation, more workforce housing units and below market housing lots for maui residents. An increased site will also add additional jobs across multiple verticals. The overall objective is to build food, water and energy rested by good paying community jobs. The land is certainly available, the true question is whether the political will to build it exists.
The farm includes a 32,000 SF Farmers Market to sell products grown onsite and those of other Maui farmers, incorporating the KaffeLUA Mau Coffee products,
Maui AirWater, plus numerous local Maui cultural exhibits and artworks. The farm will also operate West MauiYolks, a 2,500 SF chicken coup with 3,000 SF open fenced yard for 500+ egg laying hens to produce up to 2,500 eggs per week.
KaffeLUA maui Coffee Company: over 23 acres of the site will grow coffee beans for the estate coffee brand. Beans will be roasted on sites and sold within the Farmers Market, the onsite KaffeeLUA Cafe, Aquarium Gallery Restaurant and distributed to local Maui restaurants and resorts. This Estate coffee brand will be sold exclusively via the online ReefShark Apparel & Accessories store to benefit the CBO Foundation efforts.
The goal is to form a private/public partnership to develop a daily 140 MW power and storage micro grid network onsite, or larger subject to land availability. The rendering above was designed to have a multi-tier energy storage system with power generated from over 980,000 SF of solar panel roof-tops, 185,500 SF of solar carports, 1,200 - 10kw Vertical Access Wind Turbines (VAWT), and 100 2.5kw Smartflower solar tracking systems spread throughout the project. This group will also manage the onsite Maui EVPlugHUB systems, all energy storage and back-up generators systems on site.
Subject to Hawaiian laws, homes will be offered and financed directly by APVG as developer at $825,000 each – financed at 3.25% (10-year loan) to 5.25% (30-year loan) with 15% down. Buyers will receive a $750 monthly payment credit provided they reside in their units. HOA fees of $900 per unit will include unit water, power, cable TV, trash, sewer and Starlink internet service. The land owner will receive $75,000 per sale ($9.45 million total) for the 70-acre land parcel purchase agreement under a Private/Public Partnership (PPP) plan, if approved or similar agreement with a private land owner.
West Maui EVPlugHUB: The WMRC will feature 48 level 3 - EV fast charging stations, seen in the lower left side of the attached conceptual site rendering, with a KaffeLUA Café with a drive through coffee service, a second story ocean view deck and bathrooms for customers.
APVG will offer a reduced fixed daily charging rate of $.185 per kwh for member-locals to charge their EV, business shuttles, trucks or related vehicles, and $0.22 per kwh for non-member visitors. Current rates in West Maui during mid-day are $.28 per kWh, and peak rates are $.40 per kWh, so this will save local EV owners on their recharging costs. Rate can reach $0.57 per kwh elsewhere on the Maui.
Owners Family Estate: APVG, GridZero and CBO Foundation founder, and project owner, intends to utilize 3 acres of the project site to build a family estate, where he plans to relocate to oversee the farming operations, and related onsite businesses along with family members. It is a long-term goal of his to retire on Maui - while managing this project from a local perspective. To pay it forward by actively helping the community recover, and reinvest a share of the proceeds from these collective operations to help fund local businesses and/or initiatives when possible.
The West Maui Resilience Center is not just another mixed-use commercial project. It will serve as a working model for resilient community focused infrastructure. It will collectively create over 600 local long-term diversified jobs across multiple verticals, helping to strengthen Maui County’s capacity to withstand future disasters like the August 2023 Lahaina fires.
This project will also become a must visit destination for Maui visitors, interested in seeing a working sustainable business model in action, as well as for locals. Once built, estimated to be by early 2028, other Hawaiian Islands will likely seek similar Centers. The CBO Foundation will offer guided tours through the entire project to showcase its sustainable net-zero operations.
How This Project Will Be Funded
The AngelPreneur Venture Group (APVG) is the owner of this proposed project, with funding for this $250+ million development coming in various stages. Initially design, land acquisition cost and site development work will be paid directly by GridZero from its 20% share of ClubZERO Rewards monthly membership dues allocated to the GridZero Venture Fund. Additional funding will come from APVG, the CBO Foundation, private impact institutional and accredited investors, through donations, grants and other means.
Some elements of the project - like the proposed owners residence compound may change or be eliminated or relocated to another part of the project. The AgriVoltaic farming project will likely receive state and federal grants to help offset costs, while the Island Palms employee housing project will come from more traditional financing. The Tropical Reef Research & Conservation Center will be funded by the CBO Foundation.