The U.S. state of Hawaii continues to move away from reliance on imported fossil fuels and towards renewable energy independence, with the unveiling of the new five-megawatt Kalaeloa solar farm in West Oahu.
Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie led a dedication ceremony for the facility, saying the solar power produced would help his state achieve its renewable energy goal of 40 percent by 2030.
“Hawaii has growing energy demand and abundant sunshine, and it makes sense for the state to maximize our use of this clean, reliable and affordable solar resource,” said Abercrombie.
Built on a 36-acre site, the Kalaeloa farm uses SunPower solar panel arrays along with SunPower’s T0 Tracker system, which enables the solar panels to follow the sun’s path across the sky, maximising the amount of solar energy captured each day. SunPower also designed and built the project, construction of which began in July last year and was completed in December.
“Solar power in Hawaii is cost competitive with other electricity sources,” said SunPower CEO Tom Werner. “This project will generate power economically for Hawaiian Electric’s customers every year for the next 20 years.”
Bright Plain Renewable Energy LLC will manage the solar farm and Hawaiian Electric Company will buy all the energy produced under a negotiated 20-year fixed-price Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). Over this time the project is expected to avoid almost 9,500 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year, the equivalent of cutting the importation of 400,000 barrels of oil.
According to Robbie Alm, Hawaiian Electric’s executive VP, Hawaii is already America’s number-one producer of solar watts per person, mostly due to rooftop solar power systems.
“We welcome the completion of this solar facility, part of Hawaiian Electric’s continuing effort to add renewable energy to our island grids,” Alm said. “This and other utility-scale projects will help Hawaii maintain our solar leadership and reduce our unsustainable and expensive dependence on imported oil.”
Image source: DHHL – Department of Hawaiian Home Lands
