Challenge
Big Island Grown is one of Hawaii’s largest growers of medical cannabis. Their newly constructed cannabis production facility is state-of-the art, using innovative technologies making it highly energy intensive. This allows BIG to produce premium, grade products with out the use of herbicides, pesticides or fungicides, but the business’ success can be impacted by electricity prices.
Solution
Located on a former sugarcane plantation positioned on the lower slopes of Mauna Kea, the BIG facility is harnessing the power provided by mother nature which provides the facility with a renewable source of electricity. This facility utilizes hydroelectric power from the neighboring Wai’a’ma Stream and Sunspear installed a 300kW rooftop solar PV system to provide the facility with power during their daytime operations.
Benefits
Sunspear’s system will generate 345,000 kilowatt hours of clean energy per year, offsetting 30% of the facility’s overall electricity use. BIG’s electric bill will lower by an estimated $85K in the first year alone.