Tesla Built a Huge Solar Plant on Island of Kauai
Tesla is now beginning to cover the power needs of the Hawaiian island of Kauai, using a solar collection facility and battery-backed power. The company unveiled its solar panel complex last Wednesday morning in the island with Hawaii Governor David Ige present.
The solar power project has been undertaken by Tesla in close partnership with the local Kauai power industry. Tesla has worked with the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) to supply solar-sourced electricity to the island with the project's launch, according to the Business Insider.
With solar energy available only during the day and with clear atmospheric conditions, a way to store the electricity for round-the-clock use will be needed. To this end, the Kauai solar project has its own 52-megawatt-hour battery installation to store the electricity produced by the 13-megawatt SolarCity solar farm built on the island, according to a report by The Verge.
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This will reduce the island state's consumption of diesel fuel for electric generation. Tesla and the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative both estimate that the newly unveiled project can potentially cut down fossil fuel consumption by as much as 1.6 million gallons or 6.06 million liters per year.
The 13-megawatt solar farm is a solar panel array spread over a large facility located on the island. The solar farm array is made up of 54,978 individual solar panels, and together they generate a projected 13 megawatts of solar-sourced electricity given the average conditions on the tropical island. This solar farm is supported by a battery installation made up of 272 Powerpack 2 large commercial battery units installed by Tesla.
The Kauai Island Utility Cooperative have signed an agreement with Tesla for the latter to sell electricity to the island cooperative at a rate of $0.139 for every kilowatt-hour. This rate has been settled on for the duration of the contract's 20-year effectivity.
