At the 36-acre site, SunPower installed high-efficiency SunPower solar panels on a SunPower T0 Tracker system. The Tracker positions solar panels to follow the sun’s movement during the day, increasing sunlight capture by up to 25 percent over conventional fixed-tilt systems, while significantly reducing land requirements.
“Hawaii has growing energy demand and abundant sunshine, and it makes sense for the state to maximize our use of this clean, reliable and affordable solar resource,” said Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie who dedicated the solar plant to the country.
“As the largest, most productive solar farm on Oahu to date, it will have significant positive impact on the state’s renewable portfolio standards goal of 40 percent by 2030,” Abercrombie further said.
Hawaiian Electric will buy the power produced by the solar farm under a fixed-price contract for 20 years. Construction on the project began in July 2012, and it was operational in December.
According to estimates provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the solar  farm will produce enough renewable power to avoid almost 9,500 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year, equivalent to eliminating the consumption of approximately 400,000 barrels of oil over the 20-year term of the power purchase agreement.
“Solar is a valuable source of power and attractive investment opportunity, particularly in Hawaii, as it cleanly and reliably serves our growing energy demand without imported fossil fuels, while providing a predictable, low risk return to investors over a long period of time,” said David Buzby, CEO of BPRE.
“Solar power in Hawaii is cost competitive with other electricity sources,” said SunPower CEO Tom Werner. “This project will generate power economically for Hawaiian Electric’s customers every year for the next 20 years. With more than one gigawatt of SunPower solar power plants operating worldwide, our high-efficiency, highly reliable Maxeon solar cell technology will ensure the guaranteed performance of the Kalaeloa Solar Farm.”
The solar farm is the first utility-scale solar project on state land, located on 36-acres leased from the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.