The Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT) has completed the installation of 4,260 new solar panels on the seventh floor of the Terminal 1 parking garage at Daniel K Inouye International Airport (HNL).
The project aligns with Hawaii’s goal to use 100% renewable energy by 2045. The environmentally friendly improvement will capture solar energy to be used throughout the airport and in conjunction with other conservation measures will reduce the overall electric bill by nearly half.
Overall, the contract with Johnson Controls will generate more than US$600m in guaranteed cost savings over the 20-year life of the contract at Hawaii’s airports, which began in 2014. It is the largest single state energy savings performance contract in the nation.
The work began August 20, 2018, and finished on time and on budget in less than three months. The 346 parking stalls on the 7th floor level have been reopened and are available for public use. The new solar canopy will also provide shaded parking for vehicles on the seventh floor of the garage.
HDOT will continue the energy saving improvements in January 2019, when work is anticipated to begin on the 5th floor level of the Terminal 2 parking garage for the installation of another canopy and nearly 3,000 more solar panels.
In total at Hawaii’s airports, HDOT and Johnson Controls are completing more than 900 individual conservation measures, replacing nearly 98,000 light fixtures with high-efficiency light-emitting diode (LED) technology and energy efficient lighting; upgrading ventilation and air-conditioning systems; and installing more than 24,000 solar photovoltaic panels.
The US$207m investment is financed from guaranteed energy savings, not taxpayer funding.