Developer Castle & Cooke Incorporated has completed building the largest single site solar farm in Hawaii.
The solar farm currently produces up to 500 kilowatts of energy, which is expected to rise to 1.2 megawatts upon completion by June.
At its official launch, Castle & Cooke Chairman and Chief Executive David Murdock stressed the need for the state to ease its dependence on oil imports on which it spends 7 billion US dollars a year.
The Honolulu Star Bulletin reports the farm is expected to supply up to 30 percent of Lanai's electricity.
Maui Electric Company has plans to buy the farm's power and transmit it to Lanai homes through its electric power grid.
Lanai is also the site of a proposed wind farm that under Lingle's Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative that would transfer up to 400 megawatts of wind power via underwater cable to Oahu.
