Comment by ceejayoz
1 year ago
What? No. They're replacing it with solar generation.
> With 565 megawatt-hours of storage, the battery can’t directly replace the coal plant’s energy production, but it works with the island’s bustling solar sector to fill that role. “We’re enabling the grid to add more clean renewable energy to the system to replace the energy from the coal plant,” Keefe said.
Given the small area of the islands and the less-than-flat terrain, I'm surprised they went solar. Have hydro turbines been considered?
Hawaii is not known for its rivers.
You don't need flat terrain for solar. China is papering over entire mountains with panels. https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/sd88u7/s...
Impressive and frightening. Trying to patch an ecological horror with an ecological horror.
You need less area than you might think for Solar. Especially somewhere that is sunny like Hawaii.