Military in Hawaii has big plans for solar power at base

The military is seeking contractors to install more solar power systems at most of its major installations in the state in what ultimately would be a leap in photovoltaic power generation capability in Hawai’i, officials said.

Ted Peck, the state’s energy administrator, predicts the military photovoltaic energy project output may reach about 60 megawatts

Even at the 15- to 16-megawatt production capacity last year, Hawai’i was third in the nation for solar power on a per capita basis, he said.

“So what the (Defense Department) is going to do will knock us out of the park,” Peck said. “We are really driving hard toward huge amounts of solar in our state. It’s just going to be phenomenal .”

Hawai’i gets about 90 percent of its energy from oil. O’ahu’s peak power usage is about 1,200 megawatts at any given time, officials said. The military uses about 15 percent of that power.

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