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Solar power plans scaled
back, says UH officialQuestion: What ever happened to plans for Hawaiian Electric Co., the University of Hawaii and the Navy to install a huge bank of solar photovoltaic panels on the Ewa plain?
Answer: The project, originally slated to become the largest photovoltaic array in the islands at up to 3 megawatts of electricity (enough to power 90,000 homes), has moved to Ford Island and downsized but is still a go, said Richard Rocheleau, director of UH's Hawaii Natural Energy Institute.
The Ewa Beach site was ruled too remote from established infrastructure. Instead, the Navy will put solar panels on the roof of Hangar Building 54, at Ford Island.
The project will create 200 kilowatts of power (the equivalent of powering 60 homes), which the Navy will use. Eventually more could be added, but plans for that are not firm, Rocheleau said.
The two-year project will use $2.5 million of funds provided by the Office of Naval Research.
Several different types of solar cells will be used to gather test data as to which are more cost-effective, etc., said Karl Stahlkopf, HECO vice president for renewable energy.
Pending final environmental and bureaucratic approvals, construction could begin this summer.
The Natural Energy Institute, HECO and the Navy already are partners to develop advanced fuel cells via the Hawaii Fuel Cell Test Facility and to explore sea-floor methane hydrates as a future fuel source.
"We're interested in the possibility of using photovoltaic energy (solar power) to create hydrogen" and then storing hydrogen in fuel cells, said Gary Jensen, director of the Mid-Pacific Branch of the Office of Naval Research.
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