Isles’ largest solar farm starts supplying HECO

The developer of Hawaii’s largest solar farm said it has begun pumping power to the grid.

San Diego-based Eurus Energy America Corp. said Wednesday its 27.6-megawatt EE Waianae Solar Project LLC solar photovoltaic facility, with the potential to power more than 4,000 homes, has begun commercial operation.

Eurus will sell energy to HECO for about 14.5 cents per kilowatt-hour. The facility is jointly owned by affiliates of Eurus and Toyota Tsusho America Inc.

Satoshi Takahata, president and CEO of Eurus Energy America, said in a statement he wants to help Hawaii reach its goal of 100 percent electricity production from renewable energy by 2045.

“Eurus is committed to bringing highly viable renewable energy projects online in a responsible and timely manner to help the state of Hawaii meet its ambitious renewable energy goals” he said.

The solar project in Waianae will triple the amount of utility-scale solar connected to Oahu’s grid.

There are three other solar farms on Oahu: Kalaeloa Solar Two with 5 megawatts, Kalaeloa Renewable Energy Park with 5 megawatts and Kapolei Sustainable Energy Park with 1 megawatt.

One megawatt of solar photovoltaic powers on average 164 homes, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.

The second largest solar arrays are on Kauai. Kauai Island Utility Cooperative has two 12-megawatt arrays. The Koloa array went online in August 2014. The Anahola array was completed in summer 2015.

HECO has said solar farms cost less and are easier to manage than 10,000 separate private systems. In December, HECO said it expects 42 percent of homes, or 165,000 properties, in its service area will have solar systems by 2030. Currently, there are 79,000 solar systems across HECO’s territories.