SolarCity, which is ramping up its solar-plus-storage offerings using Powerwall battery packs made by Tesla, last year built a 12MW ground-mount PV array for the Kaua’I Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) – itself an unusual move for the nation’s largest rooftop solar installer. Today that array supplies 5% of the electricity on Kaua’i, Hawaii’s fourth largest island.
Under the terms of the new 20-year PPA, SolarCity will install a 52MWh battery system that can feed up to 13MW of power onto the island’s grid, shaving Kaua'i's consumption of conventional power – typically diesel – during the peak demand hours of 5pm-10pm.
