AES breaks ground in Hawaii on two large-scale solar-plus-storage plants

• Construction has started on 2 large-scale solar projects coupled with battery storage in Hawaii from AES Corporation.

AES revealed by means of Twitter on 4 August that ground has actually been broken on Kuihelani Solar + Storage, a 60MW solar PV plant with 240MWh of containerised battery energy storage system (BESS) technology. The project gets on Maui, Hawaii's second-largest island.

AES Corporation executives and representatives of its Hawaii-based subsidiary went to a ceremonial event, along with the Mayor of Maui, members of the local community and various other stakeholders.

Then, yesterday German renewable energy business Baywa r.e. said it has actually been appointed as engineering, procurement as well as construction (EPC) contractor to another of AES' Hawaii projects. Work will certainly be done via Baywa r.e. Power Solutions, a department of the business developed with the acquisition people solar and also storage EPC firm Enable Energy in 2020.

Found on Hawaii Island, the Waikoloa Solar + Storage plant will consist of 30MWac/43MWdc of bifacial PV modules on a single-axis radar and also a 30MW/120MWh BESS, in the state's greatest island's South Kohala district.

Baywa r.e. stated that with licenses protected and construction having actually currently begun, "substantial conclusion" of the project is anticipated throughout this year. Waikoloa Solar + Storage will develop around 200 construction phase jobs as well as inject concerning US$ 47 million economic stimulation into the local economy.

Both power plants have in place 25-year power purchase agreements (PPAs) signed with the state's energy, Hawaiian Electric Co (HECO). HECO granted AES the projects in 2018 before validating the PPAs in 2019.

According to AES' website, both have an ensured commercial operation day in 2023 as well as will certainly feed right into the corresponding Hawaii Island and also Maui grids.

The lithium-ion batteries will store energy generated at times of abundant solar sources and also reduced electrical power demand, for outputting to the network at peak times and also when solar generation tails off. They will certainly also do ancillary services as well as other applications.

AES noted that the price of power from both projects will certainly be US$ 0.08/ kWh, far less than the expense of imported fossil fuels that the state of Hawaii is largely reliant on.

HECO has long determined solar PV paired with batteries-- in addition to some standalone battery storage-- to be the very best method to bring electricity costs down and also reduced carbon emissions. Certainly, Hawaii's last staying coal nuclear power plant is to retire imminently and the primary other fuel source is diesel.

The utility said last year that it anticipates any kind of solar projects competing in an upcoming tender will certainly need to include storage, while at a distributed level, HECO runs a 'Battery Bonus' programme which incentivises Hawaii's several residential rooftop solar adopters to obtain battery storage as well.

HECO revealed winners of its latest large-scale renewables tender in late 2020, which pushed with in spite of various delays as well as challenges positioned by the COVID19 pandemic. It at some point granted contracts for almost 300MW of solar PV and also 2,000 MWh of battery storage.

Nevertheless, among the winners of the greatest tender in HECO's history, which was the rounded before the one pointed out above, cancelled its granted project a few months ago. European utility group ENGIE had been contracted for Puako Solar PV + Battery Storage, a 60MW PV and 240MWh BESS project in a tender round in which 16 projects amounting to 460MW of solar and also almost 3GWh of batteries achieved success.

ENGIE attributed its cancellation of the project to elevated grid affiliation costs, headwinds for the solar industry such as the then-ongoing profession tariff disagreement for imported PV modules together with other worldwide supply chain and production issues