Hawaiian Electric Reaches 1-Gigawatt Milestone in Customer-Sited Solar and Storage
Hawaiian Electric has reached a milestone with the combined customer-sited rooftop solar and battery storage connected to its grids exceeding 1 gigawatt of capacity, equivalent to powering about 100 million LED lightbulbs.
This milestone comes about 25 years after Hawaiian Electric initiated its first customer solar programs and began integrating solar energy into its grid. The company reports that roughly 44 % of the single-family homes it serves now have solar systems. Over the past decade, the rated capacity of rooftop solar and battery systems has more than doubled.
“This is a major accomplishment both in terms of providing our customers the ability to adopt clean energy technologies and helping reduce Hawaii’s dependence on imported oil,” said Kaiulani Shinsato, Hawaiian Electric Customer Energy Resources co-director.
“It’s also a testament to the hard work of the staff at Hawaiian Electric to develop customer-friendly renewable energy programs over the years, working closely with the solar industry and other stakeholders under the oversight of the Public Utilities Commission.”
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, 1 gigawatt corresponds to:
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100 million LED light bulbs
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1,887,000 solar panels
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294 wind turbines
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2,627 Tesla Model 3s
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0.5 Hoover Dams