HONOLULU (KHON2) — A new, multi-million dollar solar canopy project had its groundbreaking ceremony on Tuesday at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center.
Mayor Rick Blangiardi, City leaders and industry partners joined together to celebrate the start of the $11 million project for the 4,500 large-format photovoltaic panels on top of the facility’s parking structure.
According to the City and County of Honolulu, the project will help provide shade for the entire upper deck of the parking structure and generate almost 100% of Blaisdell’s daytime energy needs.
In addition, officials said a Tesla Megapack battery will also be installed to help create clean, renewable power for Blaisdell’s evening events.
By embarking on this project to generate renewable energy on-site at the Blaisdell campus, we are saving money, creating local jobs and achieving the clean energy goals that the City has wholeheartedly adopted. This project perfectly blends our commitment to modernizing City operations with our promise to be better stewards of our climate future, and we are excited to celebrate today’s groundbreaking with our community.
Mayor Rick Blangiardi
Reports said the City has purchased the solar panels “at approximately one-third less than the utility rate, creating savings without any capital expenses from taxpayers.”
The installation will be part of the City’s $100 million Energy Conservation Measure Project, currently underway at 82 City facilities.
Installing the canopy will help produce about 3.9 million kWh each year which saves 2,794 metric tons of Carbon Dioxide from entering the atmosphere.
EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator said this is equivalent to:
- 665 gasoline-powered passenger vehicles driven for one year
- 7,146,766 miles driven by an average gasoline-powered passenger vehicle
- 314,432 gallons of gasoline consumed
- 551 homes’ electricity use for one year
- 6,470 barrels of oil consumed
- 184,474,425 number of smartphones charged
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