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Renewable Energy News

MONDAY 14 FEBRUARY, 2011 |

REC Solar Panels Power Hawai'i's Largest Farm

by Energy Matters

REC Solar has celebrated the commissioning of a 1.21 MW solar power facility in Hawai'i; which is not only the largest system of its kind for the state, but the first of its type on Kaua'i; the fourth largest of the main islands in the Hawaiian archipelago.
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Powered by nearly 5,400 REC 225 watt Peak Energy solar panels, the solar farm is situated on 5 acres of unproductive agricultural land. The electricity generation plant will generate an estimated 1.8 megawatt hours of clean solar electricity annually, enough to power close to 300 Kaua'i homes annually. Over the first 30 years of operation, the solar system will avoid greenhouse gas emissions of nearly 40,000 tonnes.
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Angiolo Laviziano, CEO of REC Solar, stated given Hawai'i's aggressive renewable energy goals and abundant solar resources, the state is poised to emerge as a leading market for solar energy generation.
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Kaua'i Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) has set a goal of sourcing 50 percent of its electricity from renewable energy by 2023. KIUC Acting President and CEO David Bissell commented that the solar farm "allows us the opportunity to determine and better understand the physical limitations of high penetration PV on a distribution circuit and to work through some specific technicalities associated with adding large scale intermittent renewables to our generation mix."
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REC solar panels have received considerable industry recognition and several awards. The modules are also a popular choice in Australia for commercial and home solar power systems. The more powerful 235 watt REC Peak Energy solar modules are used by local provider Energy Matters, the company that introduced the brand to the Australian residential market, in its system installations.
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