Hawaiian nut company Hamakua Mac Nut has announced the installation of a 30,000 square foot, US$1.5 million, PV system expected to generate 75% of its electricity needs. The PV system has been installed by family-owned company Renewable Energy Services (RES) with 1,527 panels supplied by Samsung, generating 1,652kWh per day.
Hamakua said it is confident the the PV system is on course to pay for itself in two to three years.
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President and co-owner Richard Schnitzler said, “Providing renewable energy is something we should all be looking at for the planet,” Schnitzler said. “In addition, having the highest electricity cost in the nation makes it even more critical.”
Schnitzler states that the system is essentially keeping 1.2 metric tons of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere annually, equivalent to 989 barrels of oil, 88 vehicles or 64 homes.
State and federal tax credits in the amount of 65% made the timing even better for the project.
In addition to the new PV system, Hamakua uses biomass to generate energy from crushed macadamia nuts.
The company’s goal is to replace 100% of their electricity needs with renewable resources by 2015.
Another benefit of the new PV array is a high-tech, interactive, live computer display for the company’s Retail Visitor Center.