Renewables developer Engie has cancelled a planned grid-scale solar-storage project in Hawaii amidst supply chain issues and trade disputes impacting US solar.
The project, which would have combined 60MWac of solar PV with a 240MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) to be supplied by technology provider New Horizons Ahead (NHOA), was cancelled last week, NHOA said in a statement issued yesterday.
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Engie North America was to bring the project forward after winning a tender held by Hawaiian Electric in May last year, with the utility procuring 460MW of solar and nearly 3GWh of energy storage from 16 projects.
However the developer, a unit of French energy giant Engie, informed HECO last week of its intent to cancel, citing higher interconnection costs alongside supply chain issues and ongoing tariffs and trade disputes disrupting module supply in the US.
Project pushbacks and cancellations are widely expected to become increasingly common as solar module prices remain elevated, having increased on the back of high material and components costs and shipping constraints.
Analysis conducted by Rystad Energy last week found that the levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) for solar projects has risen by between 10 – 15% as supply chain volatility has increased, with more than half (56%) of projects slated for development in 2022 considered to be at risk.
For more on this story, visit sister publication Energy-Storage.news.
