Tesla will soon power the Hawaiian island of Kauai through the use of its enormous new solar farm, consisting of solar panels and large battery packs.
The project was officially unveiled on Wednesday morning in Kauai after remarks made by CTO JB Straubel and David Ige, governor of Hawaii. Tesla and Utility Cooperative of Kauai Island teamed together
to unveil the project.
The solar farm has a staggering 54,978 solar panels with 13 megawatts of solar generation capacity. Perhaps the biggest feat of the project was the installation of 272 large battery power packs, which store
the energy created in order to power the island at night.
The system is going to be turned on in several different phases. Once completely operational, its estimated by Tesla that the project will save 1.6 million gallons of fuel per year.
Tesla is diving into solar energy following its acquisition of SolarCity last November. Tesla is also powering nearly the entire island of Ta’u in American Samoa with solar power and its Powerpacks.
KIUC signed a contract with Tesla to purchase 1 kilowatt-hour of electricity for $.139 over a 20-year time frame.