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 mone

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