Hawaii To Boost Its Green Energy By As Much As 10 Percent Through 158 Tesla Mega Batteries

Clean Technica

Countries have made efforts to go green, one of which is through batteries that can store the natural sources of power. And in the forefront of all these is Tesla. We can only hope that the rest will follow suite and try their best to save on energy.

Right now, Hawaii is also looking towards going green. They have collaborated with Tesla and have starting making way to supply their residents with enough energy, without harming the environment that they live in.

Oahu, on of Hawaii’s most famous islands, has a goal. The people want to free themselves from too much usage of major coal-fired power plants. This will be done by introducing 158 Tesla Energy Megapacks and have them installed for a 565 megawatt-hours project.

Just recently, a state power company named Hawaiian Electric chose 16 renewable energy and battery storage projects that were spread across three islands, one of which was Plus Power’s Kapolei Energy Storage project (KES) which is found in Kapolei on the island of Oahu.


Oahu and Hawai’i are generally considering to accelerate a transition to 100% renewable energy eventually, with the former set to decommission a coal power plant. This plant has the ability to generate 15 percent of the island’s electricity via the 180 megawatt capacity.

KES has been able to match this capacity. They are able to give the people 565 megawatt-hours in total. Thus, this has become one of the largest autonomous batteries in the world. The said project can be able to load shifting and fast-frequency response services to Hawaiian Electric. This will improve their grid reliability and accelerate the integration of readily available renewable energy that the islands hope to fully use. For the operation, KES will be a communal battery for the island. They will use most of its capacity to absorb excess midday solar power before they feed it back to the grid so that it can serve them at night as well.

The 158 lithium-ion Megapacks will come Tesla Energy. The car maker’s green energy subsidiary, and the battery project is ideally located on around eight acres of land found in the Kapolei Harborside industrial project. This is where the power will then interconnect at an important Hawaiian Electric substation.


This whole plan is a big change from trusted power sources. It has been designed carefully so that when disaster strikes, the grid will not shut down. It comes with a “black-start capacity.” This means that the system is able to jolt the entire grid to life when it is interrupted and it more than enough to suffice with the demands of today’s world. KES can deliver 50 megawatts of capacity out immediately should emergencies arise.

While the sun is out, the batteries will be working silently as it absorbs excess solar energy that is distributed back into the grid when the sun sets. This is able to prevent hindrance in the use of electricity that is generated by renewable sources by 69 percent. It may also up the renewable use in the grid by 10 percent.

“Plus Power’s selection as an energy storage provider for Hawaiian Electric is a very welcome and important step in meeting the state’s renewable energy needs. We’re excited to have them at Harborside,” Steve Kelly, President of the Kapolei Properties Division, stated.

“Plus Power is honored and excited to work with Hawaiian Electric to implement this ground-breaking project,” said Bob Rudd. He is the Lead Developer at Plus Power. “At 185 MW/565 MWh, the KES project will provide the scale necessary to transition away from coal and to accelerate Hawaii’s path toward 100 percent renewable energy. We look forward to working closely with all stakeholders to realize this project and deliver its economic and environmental benefits to the people of Oahu,” he added.

KES is expected to go finally go live by March 10, 2023. They are also hoping to see returns from taxpayer investment before the 20-year contract period is done.

 

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