AES and KIUC break ground on Hawaii’s largest solar-plus-storage system

February 23, 2018
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
The price will be US$0.11/kWh, which is significantly below the cost of diesel generation. Credit: AES

AES Distributed Energy (AES DE), a subsidiary of AES Corporation, and nonprofit transmission firm Kauai Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) have broken ground on a 28MW solar and 100MWh five-hour duration battery energy storage system in Kauai, Hawaii.

The Lāwa’i Solar and Energy Storage Project, the largest hybrid solar and storage project in Hawaii, will be located on former sugar land between Lāwaʻi and Kōloa, on Kauai's south shore. It will provide 11% of KIUC's generation capacity and increase the portion of renewables in its mix to 60%.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Try Premium for just $1

  • Full premium access for the first month at only $1
  • Converts to an annual rate after 30 days unless cancelled
  • Cancel anytime during the trial period

Premium Benefits

  • Expert industry analysis and interviews
  • Digital access to PV Tech Power journal
  • Exclusive event discounts

Or get the full Premium subscription right away

Or continue reading this article for free

The price will be US$0.11/kWh, which is significantly below the cost of diesel generation, said KIUC’s president and chief executive, David Bissell.

“This will not only provide downward pressure on rates, but also helps us avoid the use of 3.7 million gallons of diesel each year,” he added.

Last October, AES announced it would be using SunPower’s scalable Oasis Power Plant platform for the solar plant.

The battery system will also improve the island’s grid resiliency, providing dispatchable energy from the solar system, with the ability to deliver consistent peak power output for up to five hours outside of daytime hours, alongside power production going straight to the grid during daytime hours.

Woody Rubin, president of AES DE, said: “AES has had a presence in Hawaii for more than 25 years, and this first-of-its-kind project demonstrates our continued commitment to the state’s vision of a cleaner energy future. This innovative project will help reduce Kauai’s reliance on fossil fuels while generating clean, reliable and affordable energy.”

Hawaii has a goal of reaching 100% renewable energy by 2045 and solar and storage combinations have been a major focus already. The Hawai‘i Public Utilities Commission last year approved two new programmes expanding its customers’ abilities to install rooftop PV and energy storage systems. Similarly, in 2016, SolarCity chose Tesla, which later acquired SolarCity, to supply a 52MWh utility-scale energy storage system, which will make the output of a solar farm in Hawaii dispatchable.

Meanwhile, the US Navy is building a 44MW solar power plant with energy storage, also on Kaua’i, while ‘intelligent’ commercial storage provider Stem is aggregating customer systems into a 1MW ‘virtual power plant’ on another island, O’ahu.

Scale of such projects is consistently growing. For example, this week Australia also saw its first large-scale, grid-connected solar-plus-storage system come online, having been built by Conergy.

21 October 2025
New York, USA
Returning for its 12th edition, Solar and Storage Finance USA Summit remains the annual event where decision-makers at the forefront of solar and storage projects across the United States and capital converge. Featuring the most active solar and storage transactors, join us for a packed two-days of deal-making, learning and networking.
16 June 2026
Napa, USA
PV Tech has been running PV ModuleTech Conferences since 2017. PV ModuleTech USA, on 16-17 June 2026, will be our fifth PV ModulelTech conference dedicated to the U.S. utility scale solar sector. The event will gather the key stakeholders from solar developers, solar asset owners and investors, PV manufacturing, policy-making and and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out the PV module supply channels to the U.S. out to 2027 and beyond.

Read Next

Premium
October 17, 2025
According to Ronak Maheshwari of CRC-IB, there has been a struggle for US renewable power projects to secure necessary equity .
October 17, 2025
A group of over 20 US states are suing the Trump administration for the cancellation of the US$7 billion Solar For All Scheme.
October 16, 2025
T1 Energy and Nextracker have agreed to use the latter’s steel module frames at the former’s new 5GW module manufacturing facility in Dallas.
October 16, 2025
US utility-scale solar additions grew by 56% in 2024, reaching 30GW from 2023’s 19GW and representing over 54% of all new electricity generation capacity added in the country last year.
October 15, 2025
The average price of a solar PPA signed in North America increased 4% between the second and third quarters of 2025, according to LevelTen.
October 15, 2025
Independent power producer (IPP) Geronimo has begun construction on it’s150MW solar project in Illinois and commissioned the 125MW PV project in Michigan.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Solar Media Events
October 21, 2025
New York, USA
Solar Media Events
November 25, 2025
Warsaw, Poland
Solar Media Events
December 2, 2025
Málaga, Spain
Solar Media Events
February 3, 2026
London, UK