The University of Hawaiʻi–West Oʻahu and AES Hawaiʻi celebrated the launch of the company’s West Oʻahu solar-plus-storage project in Kapolei, the company’s first facility to combine solar generation and battery energy storage on Oʻahu.
AES Hawaiʻi partnered with UH West Oʻahu and Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) for the utility-scale solar project, which is expected to produce enough energy to reduce Oʻahu’s use of fossil fuels by 750,000 barrels of oil and the associated pollution and greenhouse gases emitted over the project’s lifetime.
“This project is one of many we welcome, as we make progress toward the Hawaiʻi Clean Energy Initiative, launched in 2008,” said Gov. Josh Green. “We will continue the good work that is underway to make our islands petroleum-independent by the year 2045. Our administration is investing in contractor training programs to build a workforce with the technical expertise to support efforts like this.”
The two-part celebration on April 9 featured a blessing ceremony at the project site—66 acres of UH West Oʻahu’s mauka lands adjacent to Makakilo—followed by a reception nearby at UH West Oʻahu‘s Academy for Creative Media Student Production Center.
UH West Oʻahu Chancellor Maenette Benham said, “The University of Hawaiʻi–West Oʻahu is the post secondary anchor institution here in West Oʻahu. We have an extremely important role in our partnerships with businesses, our K–12 schools and many of our community organizations, and it’s absolutely fabulous that we have an opportunity to celebrate with our partners such a successful accomplishment.”
The new project supports the UH’s 2035 net-zero energy goals, provides a revenue stream to support higher education, and emphasizes the importance for students and the community to embrace a clean energy future.
For more visit Ka Puna O Kaloʻi.
—By Zenaida Serrano Arvman
