Hawaiian Electric and developer Innergex Renewable Energy have terminated an agreement for a planned grid-scale solar and battery storage project in South Maui. According to HECO, the project was hit with lengthy delays resulting from the developer’s legal challenges and pandemic-related cost and supply-chain issues. Of five solar projects approved on Maui since 2018, only one is being built.
Innergex, a renewable energy developer based in Canada, has plans to build and operate the 15-megawatt solar array with a 60-megawatt-hour battery energy storage system on approximately 200 acres leased from ‘Ulupalakua Ranch, mauka of Pi‘ilani Highway in Kīhei. The project plans to utilize 150 acres of fallow grazing land for the project.
Submitted last year and estimated to cost approximately $38.8 million, the upgrades are part of the company’s plans to reduce its overall carbon footprint by 70% by 2030 when compared to 2005 levels and to achieve a renewable portfolio standard of 100% by 2045.