HONOLULU – Hawai‘i Governor David Ige, military dignitaries, legislative leadership and project engineers celebrate the grand opening of the Pacific Energy Assurance and Renewables Laboratory (PEARL) with a Hawaiian blessing at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam (JBPHH) today. PEARL, which will be designed and built by engineering, architecture and construction firm Burns & McDonnell, is a state-of-the-art renewable energy microgrid developed in coordination with the Hawai‘i Center for Advanced Transportation Technologies (HCATT), the Air Force Research Laboratory, National Guard Bureau, Hawai‘i Air National Guard and the Naval Facilities Command.
“The state of Hawai‘i is proud to pursue this innovative project,” Gov. Ige says. “PEARL will advance the state’s clean energy vision of maximizing Hawai‘i’s energy self-sufficiency and security by developing and utilizing local energy resources in a balanced way.”
Microgrids will play a critical role in reducing Hawai‘i’s dependence on fossil fuels, helping the transition to renewable energy and creating a multitude of new jobs in the state. Further, microgrids like PEARL can help mitigate grid disturbances and strengthen grid resiliency during natural disasters.
“The PEARL project is the first of six planned microgrids, which will not only provide energy assurance, resiliency and cybersecurity to the 154th Wing F-22 campus at JBPHH, but also serve as a technology and business development laboratory to complement the state’s goal of 100% renewable energy by 2045,” says David Molinaro, acting HCATT director.
Planning for the project began in 2016, with construction slated for completion in August of 2020. Once complete, PEARL’s technical capabilities include 1.5 megawatt (MW) of solar PV integration, 500kWh of battery energy storage and the ability to restore 1 MW of power instantaneously with less than a 10% voltage drop.
“Burns & McDonnell is proud to design and build this state-of-the-art microgrid, supporting some of our nation’s most critical military infrastructure and the great state of Hawai‘i,” says John Bothof, Pacific operations manager for Burns & McDonnell. “The PEARL project will open doors for others of its kind, and we look forward to deepening our roots in Hawai‘i and continuing to build upon our longstanding partnership with the Department of Defense.”