Hawaii Solar Project On Track
The project on Oahu’s westside is expected to be operational by December.
One of Hawaii’s biggest photovoltaic projects — a 27.6-megawatt solar farm in Waianae — is on track to go into commercial operation by Dec. 15, officials announced Friday.
The utility company said in a release that tens of thousands of PV panels have been installed on 200 acres of land on Oahu’s westside as part of the project being developed by .
The state Public Utilities Commission approved the contract last year, and the project broke ground in March, according to the release.
The deal involves Eurus owning and operating the system and selling the energy to Hawaiian Electric at roughly 14.5 cents per kilowatt-hour, which the utility says is one of the state’s least expensive renewable energy projects.
More than 23 percent of the state’s electricity came from renewable sources last year. Hawaii has a legislatively mandated goal of becoming 100 percent renewable by 2045.
Several other solar projects are underway, the release says, and 79,000 rooftop PV systems have been approved.
The project’s is located on “low-value agricultural land, now fallow, mauka of Kamaile Academy and the Uluwehi community,” according to .
Eurus is owned by Japan-based Toyota Tsusho and Tokyo Electric Power. REC Solar is the project contractor.
