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Lihu‘e Costco to go solar by January
by Rachel Gehrlein - THE GARDEN ISLAND
Following in the footsteps of the Kona location, the Lihu‘e Costco is going solar.
Installation of the solar electric system began in early October and is expected to go live in January.
Craig Peal, Costco’s assistant vice president of energy and building controls, said they are holding off on the debut until after holidays due to unfinished paperwork.
“All the panels are bolted down and the wires are connected,” Drew Bradley, construction manager of REC Solar, said. “We’re just working on the communication system and some finishing touches.”
The Kaua‘i warehouse is one of four locations to be outfitted with photovoltaics, but not the first.
Earlier this year, Costco hired San Luis Obispo, Calif.-based REC Solar to install a total of 2.5 megawatts of solar electricity on two Costco locations in California and two in Hawai‘i.
The Issaquah, Wash.-based Costco Wholesale Corp. chose the Big Island store for the company’s first solar system and started installation after Labor Day.
“Hawai‘i is one of the best places to go solar,” Natalie Rozier, REC Solar spokeswoman, said.
According to Peal, Costco decided to install the system in Hawai‘i because pilot projects in California met expectations.
“We evaluated it and it seemed like a great opportunity to reduce operating costs,” Peal said.
According to Steve Rymsha, staff engineer at Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative, the Lihu‘e Costco will not be exporting any power back to the utility company.
The Lihu‘e system, which measures 148,000 square feet, is a 680 kW (DC) solar electric, consisting of 3,888 Mitsubishi 175UD4 panels, two Xantrex 225S-480-P inverters and one Xantrex 100S-480-P inverter. It has a web-based monitoring system that will allow Costco to track and store the its energy output.
Solar power in Hawai‘i is also makes business sense, Rozier said, considering the state and federal tax credits. The Hawai‘i Solar and Wind Energy Credit allows individuals or corporations to claim up to 35 percent or $500,000, which ever is less, of the cost of equipment and installation. On the federal level, commercial owners of solar power systems receive a 30 percent tax credit after the first year.
“Costco should be applauded for doing it (installing a solar electric power system),” Bradley said. “There should be a lot more companies doing it and taking advantage of the sunshine.”
• Rachel Gehrlein, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) or rgehrlein@kauaipubco.com.
Installation of the solar electric system began in early October and is expected to go live in January.
Craig Peal, Costco’s assistant vice president of energy and building controls, said they are holding off on the debut until after holidays due to unfinished paperwork.
“All the panels are bolted down and the wires are connected,” Drew Bradley, construction manager of REC Solar, said. “We’re just working on the communication system and some finishing touches.”
The Kaua‘i warehouse is one of four locations to be outfitted with photovoltaics, but not the first.
Earlier this year, Costco hired San Luis Obispo, Calif.-based REC Solar to install a total of 2.5 megawatts of solar electricity on two Costco locations in California and two in Hawai‘i.
The Issaquah, Wash.-based Costco Wholesale Corp. chose the Big Island store for the company’s first solar system and started installation after Labor Day.
“Hawai‘i is one of the best places to go solar,” Natalie Rozier, REC Solar spokeswoman, said.
According to Peal, Costco decided to install the system in Hawai‘i because pilot projects in California met expectations.
“We evaluated it and it seemed like a great opportunity to reduce operating costs,” Peal said.
According to Steve Rymsha, staff engineer at Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative, the Lihu‘e Costco will not be exporting any power back to the utility company.
The Lihu‘e system, which measures 148,000 square feet, is a 680 kW (DC) solar electric, consisting of 3,888 Mitsubishi 175UD4 panels, two Xantrex 225S-480-P inverters and one Xantrex 100S-480-P inverter. It has a web-based monitoring system that will allow Costco to track and store the its energy output.
Solar power in Hawai‘i is also makes business sense, Rozier said, considering the state and federal tax credits. The Hawai‘i Solar and Wind Energy Credit allows individuals or corporations to claim up to 35 percent or $500,000, which ever is less, of the cost of equipment and installation. On the federal level, commercial owners of solar power systems receive a 30 percent tax credit after the first year.
“Costco should be applauded for doing it (installing a solar electric power system),” Bradley said. “There should be a lot more companies doing it and taking advantage of the sunshine.”
• Rachel Gehrlein, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) or rgehrlein@kauaipubco.com.
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Ronald Pray wrote on Oct 17, 2009 5:14 AM:
I am a former U.S. Coast Guard Search and rescue team member at Barbers Point. I never read the scathing November 28 article about a rescue I did in 1977 while on leave.
In November of 1977 I had visited Kauai on leave and hiked the Na Pali coast to go camping. On the trail I saw some hikers in front of me ignore the cries of a man saying he was poisoned by mushrooms he had eaten. I know that there are many poisonous varieties from the orange mushrooms to the copelandia varieties which are deadly. I stopped and he was vomitting and telling me that he was dying. I laid my sleeping bag down onto the ground and made him comfortable then lit my coleman stove and cooked him soup to eat. He ate the soup and continued vomitting. He said that he needed immediate attention. I ecouraged him to vommit everything out of his stomache.
I asked him if he would be OK while I ran back to Haena for help and he said please do that.
I ran from his location sometimes skipping the zig-zags in the trails steep inclines jumping straight down to the trail below. I had injured my Achilles tendon by twisting my ankle which put me on light duty upon returning to Barbers Point.
I then knocked on the first door I found and asked them to contact the U.S. Coast Guard that there was a man stranded on the trail who needed immediate attention.
The Fire Department went in on the trail and found the man walking out on his own. This is why the writer in 1977 claimed that I had misread the situation and that is why he called my rescue "The Rescue that wasn't". I believe that had that man died, his death would have been on my ticket and given that rescuing folks was my business I had a responsibility to perform.
We may never know what part my inducing vomiting played in the recovery of this man. I'd like to believe that it played a major role in his quick recovery.
I am proud that I stood for the highest traditions of the U.S. Coast Guard on that fateful day on the Na Pali Coast.To this day, I have a lump in my Achilles Tendon which hurts on certain days to remind me of that day I ran into that man.
Malama Pono,
Former 3rd Class Petty Officer Ronald Pray "