Wet'n'Wild Hawaii's solar carport system expansion project is underway, the West Oahu water park announced earlier this week. According to the announcement, the goal of the project is to increase energy savings and store power from the park's solar carport system.
The expansion project will be done by Honolulu-based solar energy company Sunspear Energy, which installed the first phase of the 1.3-megawatt solar carport system in 2021, as previously reported by Pacific Business News.
In a recent interview with PBN, Sunspear President and CEO Jeffrey Kaemmerlen said this second phase of the carport will primarily be a solar battery storage-focused project, with the installation of a Tesla Megapack battery energy storage system. The excess of renewable energy stored in the battery will then be used to sell back power to Hawaiian Electric's grid, according to the announcement.
An additional 252 solar photovoltaics panels will also be installed to complete the fourth row of the overall solar canopy consisting of about 2,900 solar panels spanning over most of Wet'n'Wild's parking lot, said Kaemmerlen.
"With our unique location within one of the sunniest parts of the island, this battery phase to start storing energy is critical and operationally game-changing for us, as these investments now will pay dividends for years to come," said Wet'n'Wild General Manager Scott Loos.
Once the project is completed, the waterpark expects to save more than $300,000 on its total annual operating costs, according to the announcement.
To finance the project, Kaemmerlen said the company was able to take advantage of two key incentive programs, including Hawaiian Electric's Battery Plus and Hawaii Energy's Power Move programs.
"It was a collaborative effort [with Wet'n'Wild] to see what we could do to maximize the value of what was already out there there and expand it further," said Kaemmerlen. "The battery bonus program and some of the [other incentives] was sort of a narrow window of opportunity."
According to HECO's website, the Battery Plus program launched on June 1, 2021, for HECO to "pay a cash incentive and provide bill credits for customers on Oahu and Maui to add energy storage." The Battery Bonus program closed to new participants in July of this year.
To further back up HECO’s Battery Bonus program and reduce the load on the grid during peak hours, Hawaii Energy's Power Move program provides rebates for commercial battery storage installations on Oahu and Maui. The deadline to apply for the Power Move program is Dec. 31.
According to PBN's 2024 Hawaii Most-Visited Attractions List, the waterpark served 420,000 visitors in 2023.
