Lendlease, a real estate and investment group that manages almost 8,000 homes for the U.S. Army on Oahu, and Holu Hou Energy (HHE), a provider of design-to-service solar plus energy storage systems, have signed a contract to install HHE’s HoluPower energy storage and solar PV systems on homes at Lendlease’s Island Palm Communities.
The installations will come in the form of HHE’s EnergyCluster, where multiple residential units have their systems connected in an energy network. Excess solar generation from any unit’s system in the network that would normally be lost is directly shared in real time with other connected units that have load above solar generation. The benefit is that the optimized PV and energy storage systems can meet 75% to 80% or more of the overall residents’ energy needs while not exporting power to the utility grid.
“Lendlease Communities is proud to partner with Holu Hou Energy on this innovative renewable energy project, which will not only improve the quality of life for military families at Island Palm Communities, but also contribute to a more resilient and stable electric grid in Oahu,” says Matt Lynn, SVP, energy and utilities at Lendlease.
Lendlease and HHE began planning in 2021, which culminated in constructing a pilot project in May 2022. Since then, the pilot has been operating across six residential units. In a typical month, approximately a third of the total generated electricity is shared with other units in the cluster, thereby solving issues related to vacancy and resident load variability while proving the value created through a clustered approach versus stand-alone systems.
The savings realized by Island Palm Communities through deployment of HHE’s systems is being reinvested to enhance the housing and amenities Lendlease offers to military families on the installation. Additionally, residents now have back-up power that can be utilized during grid outage events.
Each residential unit will have approximately 10 kW of PV and 25 kWh of energy storage, with six residences typically being connected in an HHE EnergyShare network. Construction is set to begin summer of 2023, with initial installations at the Aliamanu Military Reservation near Honolulu.