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Bank of Hawaii said it expects to save $439,591 annually from 2,670 photovoltaic panels it has installed on its buildings throughout the state as part of its ongoing energy-saving programs. The company now produces about 30 percent of its statewide energy from PV systems.
The state’s second-largest bank said Tuesday its most recent installation involved 1,152 300-watt photovoltaic panels — the company’s largest installation to date — atop its central processing facility in Iwilei. The facility serves as the bank’s data center, vault and information technology building.
In addition to the central processing facility building, 12 of the bank’s branches and its main headquarters on Bishop Street have been outfitted with PV systems. The savings are realized from payments it makes to Hawaiian Electric Co. on Oahu, Maui Electric Co. and Hawaii Electric Light Co. on the Big Island. The bank has 65 branches throughout the state.
“We’re very pleased with the progress we are making with our energy-savings programs, and in aggregate we believe this is one of the largest commercial PV systems in the state,” said Peter Ho, chairman, president and CEO of Bankoh. “Our PV installations are just part of a larger effort to help reduce energy costs as part of a structured energy reduction effort.”
Bankoh said its next-largest installation after the central processing facility building was the bank’s 22-story headquarters building, which has 348 panels that were airlifted onto the roof by helicopter. The first branch to get PV installed was the Kapolei Commons branch in November 2010.
In addition, this week the bank is bringing online two new 350-ton, high-efficiency air-conditioning chillers at its main headquarters. The chillers are replacing older, much less efficient units installed in the early 1990s. The new chillers are anticipated to reduce the annual electricity cost by two-thirds.
Bankoh’s installations represent a reduction of about 3,162 barrels of oil per year for the PV systems and about 7,717 barrels per year for the chiller project, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s estimates for petroleum used to generate electricity.
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