Work has started on a major solar and battery storage project on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.
AES Distributed Energy Inc., part of the US-based AES Corporation, is building the 20MW “five-hour duration” storage system on the island— together with a 28MW Oasis solar system from Silicon Valley-based SunPower Corp.
AES DE will be the long-term owner and operator of the facility, for which it will deploy its Advancion lithium-ion battery technology on former sugar land on the island’s southern shore, for the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC).
The facility is expected to be operational by the end of 2018. AES DE said the project is on course to be “the largest solar-plus-utility-scale-battery system in the state of Hawaii”.
According to the KIUC, energy from the project will be priced at 11 US cents per kilowatt-hour and will provide 11% of the island’s electricity generation.
KIUC’s president and CEO David Bissell said: “It is remarkable that we are able to obtain fixed pricing for dispatchable solar-based renewable energy, backed by a significant battery system, at about half the cost of what a basic direct-to-grid solar project cost a few years ago.”
In 2015, AES signed a multi-year agreement with South Korean battery supplier LG Chem to provide 1GWh of lithium-ion battery capacity configured for the Advancion platform.
Last year, AEC signed two alliance agreements in its quest to dominate the global market with Advancion.
