NEWS

January 29, 2024

Civil Beat | “A Huge Battery Has Replaced Hawaii’s Last Coal Plant”

How do you maintain a reliable grid while switching from familiar fossil plants to a portfolio of small and large renewables that run off the vagaries of the weather? Now Hawaii has an answer: It’s a gigantic battery, unlike the gigantic batteries that have been built before.

January 27, 2024

USA Today | “This state is quickly becoming America's clean energy paradise. Here's how it's happening.”

Hawaii pledged to be “Coal free by ’23,” and state law mandates 100% clean energy in just 21 years. Attaining that goal came closer last month when Plus Power’s Kapolei Energy Storage, an enormous 185-megawatt battery near Honolulu, hummed into full operation.

January 15, 2024

Honolulu Star Advertiser | “Editorial: Minimize outages, stay course on ‘green’ energy”

Part of the challenge with conversion to intermittent sources of power, such as solar and wind power, is in storing that electricity so it can be used when the sun and wind energy ebbs. Hawaiian Electric’s Jim Kelly pointed to the Kapolei Energy Storage facility that just went online, one with 185 megawatts of total power capacity and capable of providing 565 megawatt-hours of electricity. This is a battery bank on 8 acres that will be a critical asset in managing Oahu’s energy demands.

January 11, 2024

CISION PR Newswire|  “World's most advanced battery energy storage system comes online, speeding Hawaii's transition to 100% renewable energy”

Plus Power announced it has begun operating its Kapolei Energy Storage facility on Oahu, Hawaii, the most advanced grid-scale battery energy storage system in the world, helping transition the state's electric power from coal and oil to solar and wind. "This is a landmark milestone in the transition to clean energy," said Brandon Keefe, Plus Power's Executive Chairman. "It's the first time a battery has been used by a major utility to balance the grid: providing fast frequency response, synthetic inertia, and black start. This project is a postcard from the future — batteries will soon be providing these services, at scale, on the mainland."

January 10, 2024

Canary Media | “A huge battery has replaced Hawaii’s last coal plant”

Plus Power’s Kapolei battery is officially online. The pioneering project is a leading example of how to shift crucial grid functions from fossil-fueled plants to clean energy. The plant’s 185 megawatts of instantaneous discharge capacity match what the old coal plant could inject into the grid, though the batteries react far more quickly, with a 250-millisecond response time. Instead of generating power, they absorb it from the grid, ideally when it’s flush with renewable generation, and deliver that cheap, clean power back in the evening hours when it’s desperately needed.

January 9, 2024

Hawaiʻi Public Radio | “Hawaiʻi's largest energy storage project now online in Kapolei”

The utility-scale battery farm kicked off commercial operations shortly before the holidays. It has a storage capacity of 565 megawatt-hours of electricity, making it the largest storage project in the state. The project's developer, San Fransisco-based Plus Power, believes it is the first time a battery has been used by a major utility to balance the grid.

September 12, 2023

The Texas Tribune | “As brutal heat tests Texas’ power grid, batteries play a small but growing role in keeping the lights on”

Battery supporters credit the technology for helping during tight times when every megawatt counts to keep the power on for Texas’ growing population. This summer, batteries have mostly sold their power to meet high demand around 7 p.m. or 8 p.m. when solar production winds down as the sun sets but temperatures are still high. Energy consultant and battery advocate Doug Lewin calls that the “white knuckle part of the evening” for ERCOT, when batteries’ relatively small contribution to the grid can still be “determinative” to meeting what has been record-high demand during Texas’ second-hottest summer ever.

September 15, 2022

Hawaiʻi Public Radio |  “Here's how intermittent vs. firm renewable energy sources factor into Hawaiʻi's power grid”

The Conversation's Savannah Harriman-Pote on the role of firm renewable generation in the future of our grid. “On Oʻahu, Kapolei Energy Storage by Plus Power is still under construction, but it will be the largest storage facility in the state when completed, according to Polly Shaw, director of policy and communications for Plus Power… Battery storage is an important piece of the energy puzzle because it adds stability to variable energy sources, like wind and solar. Traditionally, those resources only provided energy when the wind was blowing or the sun was out.”

September 13, 2022

Honolulu Star Advertiser | “Energy storage for Oahu taking shape in Kapolei”

Andrew Gomes covers the construction of Plus Power’s Kapolei Energy Storage facility: “The project by San Francisco-­based Plus Power will be the largest stand-alone energy storage system in the state and will allow utility company Hawaiian Electric to accept more intermittent power generation from renewable sources, including rooftop solar, that replace fossil fuel power plants over the long term.”

September 12, 2022

KHON2 News |  “Kapolei energy storage facility set to modernize power grid”

The KES facility will be the first of its kind in the state, and it will pave the way for the rest of the nation to transition into renewable energy. 

October 25, 2021

Canary Media  I  “Hawaii has a one-year deadline to ditch coal.  Can it keep the lights on?”

Watch a 6-minute video in this story from Julian Spector at Canary Media on how the Kapolei Energy Storage project in Oahu serves as a linchpin to integrate higher amounts of customer-sited renewables—and more utility-scale renewables. Project Lead Scott Schalich agrees: KES will be a “postcard from the future for the mainland on decarbonizing the grid.”

August 18, 2021

Canary Media / “Hawaii building huge new battery, bidding farewell to coal” 

Julian Spector describes the unique grid-forming and blackstart services of Plus Power’s planned 185 MW/ 565 MWh KES facility on Oahu, Hawaii, beyond its main role of absorbing abundant, low-cost renewable energy and shifting it to when energy is needed most.  “Put simply, KES is a test case for how to switch from fossil fuels to clean energy without relying on gas power in a pinch.”

August 17, 2021

Canary Media | “Newsletter: Hawaii vs. fossil fuels”

Julian Spector on Hawaii as a postcard from the future for clean energy and the first part of a Canary Media story on Plus Power’s KES battery storage facility serving the whole Oahu island grid.

August 12, 2021

Hawaii News Now (Print) | "Groundbreaking begins in Kapolei for state’s largest stand-alone battery system"

Crews broke ground in west Oahu on Wednesday on what will be the state’s largest stand-alone battery system.

August 12, 2021

Pacific Business News | "Plus Power breaks ground on Kapolei Energy Storage project"

The 185-megawatt project will be the largest stand-alone battery in the state and is now considered a key bridge to Oahu's transition off of the 180-megawatt AES coal plant, which is scheduled for retirement in September 2022 — a milestone toward the state's march to 100% green-generated power.

August 11, 2021

Hawaii News Now (Extended TV news clip) | “Groundbreaking begins in Kapolei for state’s largest stand-alone battery system”

Video coverage of the August 11, 2021 KES Ground Blessing as aired on Hawaii's KGMB and KHNL TV stations.

February 11, 2021

Green Tech Media | “Plus Power Breaks Open New England Market for Massive Batteries”

San Francisco-based developer Plus Power won two bids in the latest capacity auction held by the New England ISO, which operates the transmission grid and competitive power markets in six northeastern states. That means that these two battery plants offered a compelling enough price to edge out some fossil fuel plants for delivering power on demand.

November 30, 2020

go Kapolei Magazine | “The Battery of our Future”

As Yoshimura said in July’s virtual town hall, “KES will end the use coal in Hawai’i, make the Hawaiian Electric grid more reliable, and allow the deployment of more renewable energy. It really is a ‘win-win-win’”.

September 18, 2020

Utility Dive | “Hawaiian Electric asks regulators to approve nearly 2 GWh storage, 300 MW solar contracts”

Plus Power is developing the standalone Kapolei Energy Storage (KES) project on Oahu. "With a commercial operation date of June 2022, the 185 MW KES project will help facilitate the retirement of the last coal plant in Hawaii," Allyson Sand, a developer with Plus Power, said in an email. The island's 180 MW coal plant, owned by AES, is set to retire in September 2022.

MAY 26, 2020

Green Tech Media | “Plus Power Enters Battery Big Leagues With Winning Project for Hawaiian Electric”

“Developer Plus Power’s 185-megawatt battery will shift solar energy and deliver grid services to allow Oahu’s last coal plant to retire.”