A former sugar cane producer on Kauai recently became Hawaii’s largest photovoltaic energy plant operator, after a 6-megawatt solar farm went into operation earlier this month.
Electricity began flowing from the facility at Port Allen on Dec. 7, and is capable of powering roughly 1,800 homes.
Kauai Island Utility Cooperative and Alexander & Baldwin Inc. announced Thursday that the plant is up and running.
A&B announced plans for the project last year, and it was developed by subsidiary McBryde Sugar Co. on 20 acres next to KIUC’s Port Allen power plant.
KIUC said the solar farm will supply about 3 percent of the annual energy consumed on Kauai but almost 10 percent of the utility’s daytime electrical load.
A 3-megawatt battery system tied to the solar farm will help maintain a predictable flow of power.
Two more utility-scale photovoltaic projects on Kauai are expected to come online over the next two years and help KIUC draw close to half of its daytime electrical load from solar energy by 2015.
The utility said that would be the highest percentage of solar energy on any grid in the nation.
"Completion of this facility represents a significant step forward in KIUC’s portfolio approach to meeting our aggressive long-term renewable energy goals," David Bissell, president and CEO of the utility, said in a statement.
By 2023 half of Kauai’s power needs could be supplied by renewable-energy projects including solar, hydroelectric and biomass, Bissell added.
A&B already is a major renewable-energy producer on Kauai, with two hydroelectric plants that, combined, generate about three times as much electricity as the new solar farm.
