Shortly after we opened in May 2007, we were shocked to see our first monthly electric bill, $2800, as we had budgeted $1500 for this. Little did we know that 38 cents a kilowatt hour was the rate here and with 9 refrigerators and freezers, and 125 tons of air conditioning, we were going tonna be paying Helco a lot more than we had planned. I could not sleep well until I had figured a way out of this.
We began turning up thermostats for the air conditioning and coolers and replacing halogen light bulbs with compact fluorescents. We spent a few days going over every possible way we could lower the bill and brought in a few conservation experts to offer suggestions. Thinking we had licked this problem, we got the next month’s bill and it was $3200! The rate had gone up 10% and our conservation measures were inadequate. I saw the picture clearly, and I knew that electric costs were out of control and we had to do something about it.
After reading and talking to a few local solar contractors, we decided to go with the recommendations of Bill Brooks, of Energy Specialists Hawaii, Inc. who with their partner, Rising Sun Solar, offered the fairest price and guarantees. We put 450 Shuco panels on our roof, capable of producing 66 kw of power in a grid-tie system. Our 14 Sunnyboy inverters convert this power to AC and feed it into the grid. While we had to estimate our power needs 1 year down the road and install enough power for that, as well as estimating the production in our location with its unique weather pattern, we estimated quite well. At this time, we are producing slightly over what we use. We would recommend anyone thinking about reducing their electric bill to talk to Bill at 938-2136, or go to www.energy808.com.
The key to our savings is the financing of this system. We decided to lease the system from a leasing company who paid the installers for the equipment, the engineering and permits and the labor for the installation itself. We put the first and last payments down in advance, about $3600, and our monthly lease payment comes to just under $1800 per month. We are saving about 2 grand a month. Not bad.
We will be making 84 payments and after the 84th, we will be able to buy the system for a nominal cost. Because of the tax credits the leasing company gets on this deal, we are able to buy the system for about 1/3 of its installed cost. Not bad again.
I don’t know what electricity will cost 7 years from now, but I do know our electric cost is fixed. The higher the price of electricity goes, the more our system is worth, and the better we feel for having gone solar.
We lived in Ocean View 20 years ago with solar panels on the roof, drinking catchment water and not missing the utility bills at all. It’s nice to return to a green power system and know that we are doing our part to reduce carbon and chemical emissions here in Kona today.
I think we are the first solar powered restaurant in the state of Hawaii. We might even be the first completely solar powered business. That, coupled with Chef Ladda's great touch in the kitchen, and I think we have a formula for success.