Renewable Energy & Sustainability Heroes by GineersNow Engineering GineersNow Engineering Magazine Issue No. 017, Ren | Page 21

Tesla Plans to Build a Gigantic Solar Farm
To Replace 1.6M Gallons of Fuel a Year
Tesla unveils a plan to create a massive 13 megawatt SolarCity solar farm in Kauai,
Hawaii that would save an estimated 1.6 Million gallons of fossil fuels in a year.
Renewable energy sources, especially solar
power, has been on the rise in recent years. In
fact, the world has doubled its solar capacity
to 305 gigawatts in 2016, with the United
States and China leading the race, according
to a report by SolarPower Europe.
China is the largest producer of solar energy
in the world, with its solar capacity having
doubled in 2016 from what it was the year
before. Collectively, the country generates
up to 77.42 gigawatts of solar energy, which
can then be converted to 66.2 billion kilowatt-
hours of power. The US is also following this
trend, rising from 7.3 Gigawatts in 2015 to
14 Gigawatts in 2016, with some of its states
showing an outstanding growth (like New York,
which has increased its use of solar power by
up to 800%).
The probable main reason as to why Solar
Power has risen over the past couple of years
is probably because of a big global drop in
the price it takes to install solar. The price
has dropped up to 58% worldwide, says The
Climate Council. However, there’s still 1 issue
when it comes to solar power: What do you do
if there’s no sunlight. Now, Tesla is attempting
to solve this problem by building a large solar
farm in Kauai, Hawaii.
The island of Kauai, with its bright and sunny
tropical climate, is an ideal place for harvesting
solar energy. When the night falls, however,
they are forced to convert back into using
fossil fuel energy until the morning comes
the next day. Tesla hopes to keep these
solar generators working all night by not only
creating a massive solar farm, but by also
including an energy storage plant within it,
which will allow some of the solar energy
collected to be stored and used by nightfall.
The Kauai plant, which was commissioned by
the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC), will
include a 13 megawatt SolarCity solar farm
and a 52 megawatt-hour battery installation .
The solar farm is estimated to save up to 1.6
Million gallons of fossil fuels per year.
On a side note, the KIUC didn’t exactly
buy the solar panels and its battery system
from Tesla. Instead, they signed a 20-year
contract that states that they would buy solar-
generated power for 13.9 cents per kilowatt
hour. This opens up the opportunity for Tesla
to move on to a power generating and selling
business, and it is likely that there will be more
companies/organizations to approach Tesla
with a deal similar to the KIUC contract. “We
plan to work with energy providers around the
world seeking to overcome barriers in the way
of building a sustainable, renewable energy
grid of their own.”, says Tesla in a statement
with SolarCity.