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Hawaii conference to build 100% renewable microgrid

Press release: VERGE microgrid to showcase the power of solar, biomass and energy storage technologies available today.

VERGE Hawaii: Asia Pacific Clean Energy Summit, June 21-23 in Honolulu, will use a 100-percent renewable energy microgrid — modeling resilience, interoperability, radical efficiency and other key VERGE themes.

"The microgrid brings to life the ambitious renewable energy goal Hawaii is seeking to achieve," said Eric Faurot, chief executive officer of GreenBiz Group, which is producing the event in partnership with the Hawaii State Energy Office. "By building a 100-percent renewably powered microgrid, we are demonstrating the power and potential of interconnecting a diversity of technologies."

VERGE Hawaii will explore innovative clean-energy policies, models, technologies and infrastructure that will set the stage for plans and immediate actions needed to deliver on Hawaii’s ambitious mandate of 100-percent renewably powered energy in the electricity sector by 2045. The conference will serve as a platform for energy companies, policy leaders and stakeholders from Hawaii and beyond to engage, learn and help drive Hawaii's transformation to a clean energy future.

"We are excited that VERGE is coming to Hawaii in support of our efforts to develop, test and implement emerging clean energy technologies," said Luis P. Salaveria, director for the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, which oversees the Hawaii State Energy Office. "The VERGE microgrid, powered by 100 percent renewables, represents the type of innovation Hawaii needs, as we transition into our new energy future."

VERGE Hawaii is part of the global VERGE conference and expo series. Since 2013, VERGE events have used microgrids built onsite using off-the-shelf equipment. The microgrid created exclusively for VERGE Hawaii will be installed in the Hilton Hawaiian Village and comprise a combination of components across technologies. OpTerra Energy Services, with offices in Honolulu, will provide the design, engineering and project management for the development and installation of the microgrid and will integrate the following pieces with supporting partners:

Overall Project Management, OpTerra Energy Services

  • EV charging station, sourced by OpTerra Energy Services
  • Biomass gasifier, All Power Labs
  • Biodiesel generator, Pacific Biodiesel
  • Blue Ion battery storage, Blue Planet Energy
  • Solar panel arrays, SunPower and Solexel
  • Wave Microgrid controller, Spirae

"Many perceive our islands' geographical isolation as an obstacle, and to be clear, it does provide challenges," said Brandon Hayashi, regional manager of OpTerra Hawaii. "However, the integrated microgrid that is being built at the Hilton Hawaiian Village is a microcosm of how we — the private and public sectors, utilities, Legislature, PUC and greater community — collectively and collaboratively can solve for our islands' 100-percent clean energy goals by 2045. In other words, the obstacle becomes a part of the solution." 

To learn more about the VERGE Hawaii microgrid, click here.

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