Along with beautiful beaches, lush rainforests and active volcanoes, Hawaii also boasts some of the nation’s highest electricity rates. Small businesses on the island of Molokai are currently paying about 52 cents per kilowatt hour, depending on the business’ size and power consumption. With such high rates and the availability of federal and state tax credits to offset the purchase of photovoltaic systems, solar is the smart choice for Hawaiian businesses and homeowners. While the cost of grid electricity will likely continue to rise, a solar photovoltaic (PV) system guarantees greater consistency in fixed cost structures.
The Hikiola Co-operative in Hoolehua, Molokai, is a forward-thinking agribusiness that recently installed a 12-kilowatt Kyocera grid-connected solar array that will produce nearly 100% of the power needed to run the Co-op, thus minimizing its monthly utility electric bill.
First organized in 1976, Hikiola Co-op allows farmers to come together as a group and develop an infrastructure that offers benefits that they couldn’t afford individually. This gives Molokai’s small farmers a competitive advantage to buying supplies, processing and marketing their products. As smart businesspeople, the Co-op turned to solar to stabilize their energy costs.
“The use of alternative energy is a positive step in our mission to lower the cost of supplies for our agribusiness patrons,” said Tina Tamanaha, Hikiola Co-operative Manager. “We are thrilled with the installation of our Kyocera PV system.”
Wanting to work with an experienced integrator and a veteran PV module manufacturer with decades of proven success, the Co-op chose ProVision Solar Inc. and Kyocera solar modules for its facility.
“ProVision Solar is Hawaii’s oldest brick-and-mortar pure PV company and has a strong understanding of Kyocera’s history in solar with a reputation for reliability and efficiency,” said Steve Hill, president of Kyocera Solar Inc. “The solar modules for this installations will enable Hikiola Co-operative to reduce one of the high costs of doing business on Molokai for the next 20 years or more, while also helping to preserve the environment of this beautiful island.”
Marco Mangelsdorf, President of ProVision Solar, and installer of the Co-op’s net-energy-metered Kyocera photovoltaic system, noted that, “With the abundant sunshine on this part of the island, the system should really crank out the solar kilowatt hours. We’re really pleased to be able to work with Tina and the Co-op to reduce their operating costs by going solar electric.”
ProVision Solar, a Hilo-based solar electric provider since 1998, has worked extensively on Molokai, installing systems on the Moloka’i General Hospital, Friendly Market Center, Moloka’i Drugs, Kamoi Snack-n-Go, Kualapu’u School and a number of private residences across the island.
Molokai is known as “The Friendly Isle.” Now that more small businesses and residents of the island are going solar, soon it might also be called “The Environmentally Friendly Isle!”