Kūpono Solar: a shining example of collaboration
by Shannon Tangonan | June 24, 2024
Just two minutes from my parents’ home (which is also my childhood home) in ʻEwa Beach sits Oʻahu’s newest solar-plus-battery storage facility, Kūpono Solar.
It’s located just off North Road in an area that I would have never frequented as a kid. There are no sidewalks and back in the day it was an area where people abandoned cars and dumped old appliances.
So at a blessing ceremony for Kūpono Solar on a windy June 13, I was taken aback at how beautiful it was with more than 120,000 photovoltaic solar panels gleaming across the ʻEwa plain.
Ameresco developed the 42-megawatt/168 megawatt-hour (four hour) battery storage facility on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam West Loch Annex. The developer literally transformed a dumping ground into a facility that will feed energy into Hawaiian Electric’s grid — enough to power 10,000 homes.
What also struck me was how much aloha Massachusetts-based Ameresco had for the community — and vice versa.
Eleanor Rolark, director secretary of the ʻEwa Beach Lions Club Foundation, spoke at the blessing and noted that Ameresco stepped up to provide 1,000 pounds of candy for the annual Lions Club Christmas parade. She added that each year, about 5,000 paradegoers line the streets for this event.
When we were younger my siblings (I’ve got four of them) and I would watch the Lions Club parade with our parents when it passed Hanakahi Street. When candy rained down from Santa’s float, it was the highlight of the night. This may seem trivial to some, but these moments are what ‘Ewa Beach kids remember.
Rolark also said Ameresco pitched in to help with a Christmas party for special needs children, many of whom might not otherwise have a celebration.
The solar project itself is a culmination of many partnerships and collaborations. Assistant Secretary of the Navy Meredith Berger surveyed the project and said: “This was nothing and we all came together and asked, ‘what if?’” Berger said. Kūpono Solar, she later added, “reflects our shared goal here.”
Ameresco acknowledged the over 250 people who touched the site — many representing unions and trades. It also recognized other local partners, including my alma mater, James Campbell High School. Scholarship money awarded to Campbell graduates are an investment in the future, said Ameresco Executive Vice President Nicole Bulgarino.
JCHS graduate Izavelle Martos, the 2023 Kūpono Solar Scholarship awardee, wasn’t able to attend the blessing, but provided written remarks that were read by a JCHS alumna. Because of the scholarship, she now attends Hawaii Pacific University where she majors in arts and marketing. She thanked Ameresco for “investing in our hard work.”
To get to Kūpono Solar from Fort Weaver Road, you pass James Campbell High School. It’s fitting that both are on North Road, one facility feeding energy to the power grid, the other molding students to send out into our communities and the world.
Shelee Kimura, our president and CEO, said it best during her address at the blessing. We are adding renewable generation to the grid to reduce carbon emissions and the reason is simple. It’s for our children and our grandchildren.
It’s for Sophia Anne Nene, a JCHS junior who sang a powerful National Anthem and Hawaiʻi Ponoʻī to start of the blessing ceremony.
“We’re all working together to innovate and solve problems together … for the benefit of our communities and the benefit for generations that will come, including those that get our scholarships and the beautiful voice we heard earlier that opened up our day today. They are reminders of why we do this.”
Shannon Tangonan is a senior communications specialist at Hawaiian Electric.
