Hawaiian Electric is Hawaii’s biggest electric utility serving over 95% of the state. In August last year, it put out a request for bids for renewable energy production and storage systems of about 900 megawatts.
One of the company’s that put forward a proposal was Tesla, and so far it appears to be the frontrunner that would see it build and install 244 Megapacks, making it one of the largest battery battery systems in the world.
A single Megapack has the capacity for up to 3MWh of storage. The proposal by Tesla would have a planned capacity of 810MWh.
According to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, the proposal by Tesla would cost an estimated $200 to $300 million. The development would start in 2021, with the main plant on the island of Oahu. There would also be an additional 4 smaller facilities, on Oahu, Maui, and Hawaii island.
To put the size of this project in context, Saint John Energy recently installed a single Megapack of their own, at an estimated cost of $1.5 million. This project would see 244 Megapacks installed.
The winning bid is expected to be chosen in May.
