The AES Corporation’s (AES) Waikoloa Solar + Storage project is currently online and feeding lower-cost renewable energy Hawai‘i Island’s electric grid.

The solar plus storage project can generate up to 30 megawatts supported by a 120 megawatt-hour battery energy storage system.

Under a 25-year power purchase agreement, AES will sell energy to Hawaiian Electric at 9 cents per kilowatt-hour. The project is also expected to reduce  residential bills for Hawai‘i Island customers by about $5 a month.

Located along Waikoloa Road on a 300-acre parcel about 7.5 miles from the Queen Ka‘ahumanu Highway, the project broke ground in April 2021. Construction to install the photovoltaic solar panels and battery energy storage system began in November 2021. Testing began in December 2022, and the project was approved to begin full operation in April.

In 2018, Hawaiian Electric began the first phase of Hawai‘i’s largest procurement for renewable energy resources to meet the state’s 100% renewable portfolio standard requirement. AES’s Waikoloa Solar + Storage project is one of two Hawai‘i Island projects resulting from the first phase. The other, Innergex Renewable Energy Inc.’s Hale Kuawehi Solar, is expected to be completed in 2024.