Hawaii solar plant powered by Tesla

Since March, the station located on the Hawaiian Island of Kauai is in operation and includes Tesla storage batteries.

The Project was commissioned by Kauai Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) and managed by the multinational corporation Tesla.

The power plant is set up on 50 acres of Grove Farm Company land in Kapaia (Eastern part of Hawaii) and comprises 54,978 solar panels. It provides 13MW of electricity and uses 52MW Tesla Powerpack lithium-ion battery storage system. 272 batteries have been installed in order to store solar energy for night utilization.

Cooperative’s President and Chief Executive Officer at KIUC, David Bissell said: “By using solar energy stored in the battery after the sun goes down, we will reduce our use of imported fuels and our greenhouse gas emissions significantly.”

The Solar Power plant could displace 1.6M diesel gallons annual use for KIUC.

A 20 year contract commits KIUC to Tesla with a Kilowatt hour cost fixed at $13.9 cents.

Tesla’s Chief Technical Officer and co-founder, Jeffrey Brian Straubel added: “For the first time, solar power can deliver 24 hours a day and follow the load when it is needed by the utility.”