Global energy company AES held a groundbreaking of Kuihelani Solar Plus Storage — the largest solar plus storage project in Hawaii — on Friday.
“It’s a really exciting project, and Kuihelani really exemplifies what AES is trying to accomplish in Hawaii,” AES Hawaii Market Business Leader, Sandra Larsen, told PBN in an interview. “We’re working really hard to help accelerate renewable energy here in Hawaii, with a vision for a 100% renewable energy future.”
“Not only is it the largest solar plus battery storage project in the state, it’s the first utility scale solar plus storage project in Maui,” she said. “It’s a huge step forward for the island of Maui.”
The Kuihelani Solar Plus project is scheduled to begin operations in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to AES officials. Construction and operation of the Kuihelani Solar Plus project, located on 450 acres in central Maui, will create nearly 300 jobs and reduce the need to import two million barrels of oil.
Once it begins operations, the project will be generating about 60 MW of clean renewable energy, with 240 MWh of battery, according to Larsen.
“That’ll provide enough renewable energy for about 27,000 Maui homes, and supply ultimately 15% of Maui’s energy needs,” Larsen said.
AES has several renewable energy projects in operation or being developed statewide, and the company is investing nearly a billion dollars collectively into the projects which will create 1400 jobs, according to Larsen. The renewable energy projects will collectively eliminate emissions of 100,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually and avoid the import of more than 7 million barrels of fossil fuel over their life cycles, according to AES.
