Hawaiʻi

In 2018, the Hawaiian Electric Companies awarded AES three projects totaling 102.5 MW solar PV + 410 MWh battery energy storage systems. This portfolio includes a project on O‘ahu on approximately 66 acres of University of Hawai‘i West O‘ahu's mauka lands adjacent to Makakilo.

In January 2019, AES and Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) commissioned what at the time was considered the world’s largest solar PV + Battery Energy Storage (BESS) facility, the 20 MW PV + 100 MWh BESS Lāwa‘i facility on Kaua‘i. We worked closely with the community and the landowner to successfully develop the facility, which delivers up to 11% of Kaua‘i's energy needs and helped KIUC surpass its goal of 50% renewable energy generation four years ahead of schedule.

Nā Pua Makani is a wind energy facility in Kahuku that harnesses the plentiful wind resources of O‘ahu’s North Shore and converts them into renewable, sustainable energy for the island. The facility includes 8 turbines, each about 568 feet from the base to the tip of rotors, and is able to generate enough electricity to power approximately 16,000 homes annually.

Accelerating an equitable transition to a renewable future.

Working together with landowners, we ensure our renewable solutions are not only responsibly designed to complement the natural environment but enhance it by supporting agriculture, food security and native plant and animal habitats. Our renewable energy agreements with local utilities span a 20-25-year period, enabling landowners of the project sites and local economies to benefit. AES Hawaiʻi supports landowners through guaranteed lease payments for the duration of the project's life. In some cases, landowners also benefit from agreements with local businesses for compatible agricultural and vegetation management activities. At the end of a project's lifecycle, it will be decommissioned. The land will be returned to its existing condition, allowing the landowner the full use of the property.

As an example, the Lāwa‘i Solar and Storage project is situated on 150 acres of land designated as Agricultural Land (AIL) by the State of Hawaiʻi, which requires solar projects to maintain a secondary agricultural use for the land. The site is also home to Guinea grass, an aggressive and non-native grass reaching heights of over 12 feet and is not easily controlled with traditional vegetation management methods. To meet the state’s AIL requirements, the site is home to more than 300 sheep from nearby Omao Farms that maintain vegetation at the solar facility through managed grazing. Co-locating sheep among the solar panels is a mutually beneficial solution that supports the generation of clean energy and the growth of local agriculture by providing good pasture lands for grazing. Over the project lifetime, the sheep will also save millions of dollars in labor costs, avoid the use of fossil fuels and herbicides used in traditional maintenance methods, and prevent PV panel damage from mowing and weed growth.