Clearway Energy Group’s 36-MW solar farm with 144 MWh of battery storage on Kamehameha Schools’ lands in Waiawa in Central O’ahu recently achieved commercial operations after passing all of its necessary commissioning tests.
“We are proud to help Hawai’i reach its climate goals and invest in renewable energy in the state,” said Craig Cornelius, CEO of Clearway. “We are immensely grateful for the collaboration with our partners Hawaiian Electric and Kamehameha Schools who help make those goals a reality.”
“Stabilizing energy costs for our customers is a priority, and projects like Waiawa Solar will feed electricity to the grid at about half the cost of oil,” said Shelee Kimura, president and CEO of Hawaiian Electric. “We appreciate Clearway’s and Kamehameha Schools’ contributions as we all work together to decarbonize our energy system, and look forward to bringing more benefits to our communities as six additional projects come online over the next two years on O’ahu.”
This is the second utility-scale solar project developed on Kamehameha Schools’ lands.
“Our collaboration with Clearway has provided us with paths to steward our ‘āina in ways to reduce Hawai’i’s dependence on fossil fuels while bringing ‘āina-based learning to haumāna through partnerships and innovations,” said Kā’eo Duarte, Kamehameha Schools’ VP of Community and ‘Ᾱina Resiliency. “We congratulate Clearway and Hawaiian Electric Co. in reaching this milestone which we believe will help to contribute to the resiliency of our communities.”
This newest solar and battery storage power plant represents a $150 million investment on approximately 180 acres of land leased from Kamehameha Schools. The solar farm generates clean electricity at about half the cost of fossil fuels and feeds the entire O’ahu grid, benefiting all island ratepayers. The battery system stores electricity to make it available after the sun goes down and when the demand for power peaks.
Project construction was led by Moss Solar and the batteries were supplied by Wärtsilä.
News item from Clearway