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Oceania & Pacific / Commercial & demonstration

Kihola Bay Residential Solar Microgrid in Hawaii

Current status, energy mix, organizations, suppliers, equipment, controls, reported specifications, and project updates—with source-level citations.

CoverageDetailed public record
Named organizations6
System facts19
Sources reviewed6
Evidence reviewed2026-07-20

The legacy 'Kihola Bay' entry is the Bakken Hale Estate microgrid at Kīholo Bay/North Kona, Hawaiʻi. Renewable Energy Services completed the off-grid system in June 2015 for Earl Bakken's 17,000-square-foot estate. Original sources describe approximately 172-176 kW of PV, 1 MWh of 48 V Aquion aqueous-hybrid-ion storage, SMA inverters, MidNite charge controllers, and propane/biodiesel backup. The legacy 1,000 MWh storage value is a three-order-of-magnitude error. RES' current case page now lists Blue Planet Energy Blue Ion HI batteries, indicating a storage retrofit from the original Aquion system, although its date and exact replacement capacity are not disclosed.

Research status
Completed June 2015 and presented by the installer as a successful operating case. The current RES page retains a 176 kW/1 MWh project rating and shows Blue Ion HI batteries plus biodiesel backup. No current operating dataset or retrofit announcement was found, so present battery capacity, annual solar fraction, backup-fuel consumption, and estate operation should be treated as unverified beyond the installer case page.
Historical classification
Building
Reported capacity
See component specifications
Coordinates
19.85477, -155.92334
Evidence note: “Every company” cannot be proven from public material alone. This page lists every organization found in the recovered record and reviewed sources, preserves unknown roles, and explicitly marks undisclosed controller or equipment details.
Report missing evidenceResearch methodology

Project delivery

Who was involved in Kihola Bay Residential Solar Microgrid in Hawaii?

6 publicly identified organizations. Where a recovered source named a participant without explaining its work, the role remains explicitly unspecified.

Organization

Aquion

Publicly named participant; role not specified in the recovered record [1]

Organization

Aquion Energy

Original supplier of the 1 MWh saltwater/aqueous-hybrid-ion battery system. [4][5]

Organization

Bakken Hale Estate / Earl Bakken

Private project owner and host; commissioned the replacement of aging generator-dominated supply. [3][4]

Organization

Blue Planet Energy

Manufacturer of the Blue Ion HI battery system now listed by RES, apparently replacing the original Aquion bank. [3]

Organization

Renewable Energy Services, Inc. (RES)

System designer, integrator, installer, and current case-study publisher. [3][5]

Organization

SMA Solar Technology, MidNite Solar, SunPower, and Tigo Energy

Suppliers of inverters, charge controllers, PV modules, and module-level optimizers/monitoring. [3][4]

System evidence

Energy mix, capacity, and specifications

Values can describe different project phases, generation sources, storage systems, or other components. Source citations are attached to each figure so discrepancies remain visible.

KW Solar
172 [1]
Storage
1000 MWh Aquion EnergyM-Line Modules [1]
Solar PV
Original Aquion design: 172 kW; current RES case page: 176 kW. RES specifies SunPower 345 W modules, and historical reporting gives 512 modules, whose 176.64 kWp arithmetic explains the rounded 176 kW value. [4][3][6]
Original storage
1 MWh at 48 V using Aquion M-Line aqueous-hybrid-ion modules; not 1,000 MWh [4][6]
Current storage listing
1 MWh project rating with Blue Planet Energy Blue Ion HI batteries on RES' current case page; retrofit date, cell count, and usable-energy rating are not published [3]
Load
23 kW average and 42 kW peak in the original Aquion design account [4]
Autonomy and backup
Designed for three days of autonomous clean-energy operation, with generator backup; original documentation says propane, while the current RES page says biodiesel [4][3]
Expected energy and fuel outcomes
350 MWh/year solar production and 97% fossil-fuel reduction were original design/marketing estimates; no recent measured result was found [4][6]
Site loads
17,000 ft² residence plus desalination, greenhouse, ballroom, and commercial air conditioning [3]

Controls and hardware

Equipment and controller details

Manufacturer and model are shown only when a source names them. Generic descriptions are not converted into guessed product assignments.

01

Original battery storage

Aquion Energy — M-Line Modules

1 MWh, 48 V AHI system using a water-based electrolyte, manganese-oxide cathode, and carbon-composite anode. It is no longer the battery brand listed by the installer. [4]

02

Replacement/current battery listing

Blue Planet Energy — Blue Ion HI

RES' live case study identifies Blue Ion HI batteries and shows the replacement battery room; no public retrofit date or detailed configuration was located. [3]

03

PV and module electronics

SunPower / Tigo Energy

SunPower 345 W modules with Tigo module-level power optimizers and cloud monitoring/shutdown capability. [3]

04

Inverters and charge controllers

SMA Solar Technology / MidNite Solar — Sunny Island, Sunny Boy, and Classic

SMA battery and PV inverters work with MidNite Classic charge controllers in the original 48 V off-grid architecture. [4][3]

Technical record

Architecture, performance, and project updates

Concise technical facts, milestones, operating results, and later developments. Dated notes distinguish historical design claims from current evidence.

  • Management

    Battery Inverter: SMA Sunny Island Charge [1]

  • Management

    Controller: Midnite Solar Classic [1]

  • Energy flow

    The original battery charged from PV during roughly eight daylight hours and discharged across an approximately 16-hour non-solar interval; standby generation covered multi-day low-solar periods and contingencies. [4]

  • Why off-grid

    The coastal estate could not practically be served by utility lines and had relied on three aging propane generators with unusually expensive fuel delivery. Solar and storage were intended to remove noise and reduce fuel dependence. [3][4]

  • Storage evolution

    Original 2015 sources uniformly identify Aquion AHI storage, whereas RES now names Blue Ion HI. The safest interpretation is a later battery retrofit, not two simultaneous 1 MWh banks; absent a dated retrofit source, exact timing and retained Aquion equipment are unknown. [4][5][3]

  • Name and capacity correction

    Use Kīholo Bay/Bakken Hale rather than 'Kihola.' Preserve 172 kW as the original engineering label and 176 kW as the installer/module-nameplate value. Correct storage from 1,000 MWh to 1 MWh. [4][3]

Provenance

6 sources

Primary owner, government, university, supplier, and engineering sources are preferred. Archived references preserve claims whose original pages moved or disappeared.

  1. [1]
    Recovered Microgrid Projects record

    Internet Archive · Archived source · captured 2021-04-20

  2. [2]
    http://blog.aquionenergy.com/solar-microgrid

    blog.aquionenergy.com · Archived source · captured 2021-04-20

  3. [3]
    Bakken Estate: Cutting-edge microgrid with a 6-year payback

    Renewable Energy Services · Primary source

  4. [4]
    Aquion Energy Sales Introduction – Solar Microgrid, Hawaii, USA

    Aquion Energy (archived copy) · Archived source

  5. [5]
    Progress made on NELHA's energy storage initiative

    Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority · Primary source

  6. [6]

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