These homes at the Aliamanu Military Reservation in Oahu, Hawaii were part of a 2022 pilot program to test the concept of four to six solar panels. (rental communities)
FORT SHIFTER, Hawaii. Installation of solar panels is scheduled to begin in July at 200 homes in the Aliamano Army Reserve in Honolulu. The Energy Resilience Project plans to place thousands of military residences on Oahu.
Lendlease Communities, which operates about 8,000 homes on Oahu under a partnership between its subsidiary Island Palm Communities and the U.S. military, has contracted Delaware-based Holu Hou Energy to install solar systems and batteries at four to six sites. clusters of houses on the island.
Holu Hou CEO Brad Hansen said by phone April 14 that each individual cluster's panel battery system was optimally sized so that most of the power generated in that cluster of homes is utilized.
He specifies that each cluster will use 75 to 80% of the energy generated by its system. Homes remain connected to the grid due to lack of solar energy.
Major investor Holu Hou, China-based Borqs Technology Inc., forced to sell the business over national security concerns. Borqs acquired 51% of Holu Hou in October 2021.
In December, Burks announced that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a multi-agency government group that oversees foreign acquisitions of U.S. national security technology companies, had reviewed the acquisition and the necessary investment.
"We've never had any products or services or anything from Prex," Hansen said. "They were a passive investor, so it's very easy to relax."
Solar equipment was installed in this home on the Aliamano Army Reservation in Honolulu in 2022 as part of a pilot solar panel project that will now expand to hundreds of homes. (hollow suspension)
first 200 houses
He said Holu Howe first tried the block concept several years ago in a 134-unit low-income housing project on the island of Kauai. Then, for most of 2022, Holu Howe piloted a group of six houses in Aliamana.
With this successful experience, Lendlease plans to create collections at all accommodations managed by Island Palm Communities at Schofield Barracks, Wheeler Army Field, Fort Shafter, Tripler Army Medical Center, Helemano Military Reservation, Red Hill and Aliamanu.
"We can get the most out of it by breaking it down into about six units," Hansen said. "Also, you can add more units if you want, but you've already reached the maximum sharing benefit."
Houses will be grouped primarily based on proximity. Trenches will be necessary to bury the electrical cables connecting the assembly, but the assembly will be organized in such a way as to avoid as much as possible digging trenches on asphalt.
Holu Hou is working with at least two major companies in Hawaii to complete the installations.
Work on the first 200 homes is expected to begin in July and be completed by the end of the year, Hansen said.
Sun "sweet spot"
Until now, apartment buildings have been "dead spaces for solar power," according to Hansen.
"The hardest thing about using solar power is for multi-family buildings, especially for rental properties where there's load uncertainty," he said. "You can have a tenant or a family with a high load one month, and the next month that apartment has a low load tenant."
The beam creates a more stable charge.
"You want to get 75-80% of the electricity for the population from the sun," he said. “It's kind of a magic number. Sharing lets you do that and be in that nice place without exporting [to the web]...because in California or Hawaii, you don't make a lot of money for that."
In 2015, the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission passed a rule that reduces the amount consumers can receive for exporting excess solar power to the Hawaii Electric Company, which provides most of the state's electricity.
The most stable network
Electricity rates in Hawaii are about three times higher than the US average, according to the US Energy Information Administration. In September, Hawaiian Electric shut down its last coal plant and predicted a 7% increase in individual electricity bills.
The country is working to convert its energy production to 100% renewable sources by 2045.
“We provide backup power to our residents so that in the event of a power outage, they are virtually unaffected,” Matt Lane, Senior Vice President of Energy and Utilities at Lendlease, told Stars. and Stripes in January.
"These systems can help stabilize the island's power grid by reducing grid demand to prevent future power outages," he said.
