KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii (AP) - Hawaiian Electric Co. selected Big Island solar projects for renewable energy and energy storage as part of the utility’s move to clean energy, the company said.
The utility chose a pair of solar-plus-storage projects that will generate 120 megawatts of solar power with 480 megawatt-hour storage capacity in South Kohala, West Hawaii Today reported Monday.
The projects were selected in addition to 14 other solar-plus-storage or standalone battery storage projects across the state in the latest phase of a clean energy transition for Oahu, Maui and Hawaii Island.
ENGIE EPS Storage Technology was selected via a competitive bid process to provide a battery storage facility capable of producing enough energy to power 36,000 average households on Hawaii Island.
The project will also prevent 144,000 tons (130,635 metric tons) of carbon emissions that would have been produced making the same amount of electricity with fossil fuels, ENGIE said.
“It’s like taking 32,000 cars off the road,” the company said in a statement.
The project is expected to be operating in 2023, depending on the length of the economic disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
A second battery storage facility is under development by Waikoloa Village Solar via its parent company EDF Renewables.
Hawaii led the nation in 2015 by signing into law a Renewable Portfolio Standard of having 100% renewable energy generation by 2045, Hawaiian Electric said.
If all of the utility’s projects are completed as planned, including the first phase of its clean energy transition, nearly seven points will be added to the company’s renewable portfolio percentage by 2025.
The utility said it expects to reach the mandated 30% renewable energy goal by the end of this year with plans in place to exceed 40% by 2030, 70% by 2040 and 100% clean energy for electricity by 2045.
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