Kailua, HI – Nov. 23, 2011 – Sunetric (sunetric.com), Hawaii’s leading solar design and installation company, is making sure Santa’s elves can spread holiday cheer this season without having to burn the midnight oil.

Sunetric will help illuminate the first-ever entirely solar-powered display for the 2011 annual Honolulu City Lights celebration from Dec. 3–31 at Honolulu Hale. “Santa Goes Solar” includes an 8-foot diorama of Santa’s eco-conscious workshop and village — made entirely out of Lego — in the Blue Planet Foundation’s 100-square-foot display. The Christmas trees adorning the display will be lit with an array of high-tech LED lights engineered by members of UH’s Solar Decathlon Team Hawaii and decorated with recycled incandescent bulb ornaments made by students from schools island-wide. The entire display will be powered by a state-of-the-art solar photovoltaic canopy that will be designed and built by Sunetric.

The display will be constructed by members of the Lego Enthusiasts Association of Hawaii with members of the University of Hawaii Solar Decathlon Team Hawaii engineering its array of high- tech LED lights. To power those lights, the solar canopy will produce 3.6 kWh a day, with an on- site battery pack storing up to 6.9 kWh to ensure night-time cheer.

“We are excited to work with the Blue Planet Foundation and showcase some of Sunetric’s most innovative technologies to reduce the carbon footprint for this dazzling display,” said Alex Tiller, chief executive officer of Sunetric. “It’s an honor to put the green in the green and red at Santa’s village this holiday season, and highlight the importance of renewable energy in Hawaii.”

Sunetric’s donation includes hours of engineering, design and construction work, as well as more than $5,000 in materials.

Photos

See more photos on the Sunetric Facebook page.

Video

Coverage

• KHON 2: Honolulu light display of Santa to use solar power
• KHON 2: Legos to go on display at Honolulu City Lights
• KHON 2: Be Green 2: Santa Goes Solar
• Star Advertiser: Sunetric, Blue Planet team up on solar-powered holiday display
• Pacific Business News: Sunetric to power Honolulu City Lights display
• Building Industry Magazine: Sunetric Illuminates Honolulu City Lights

Sunetric’s photovoltaic installation at the ROIZ, LLC warehouse in Kahului, Maui has been featured in the October 2011 issues of Building Industry Magazine.

The 39.4 kilowatt (kW) system is comrpised of 164 Trina Solar 240-watt multicrystalline high-efficiency solar modules, with five SMA Sunnyboy commercial utility interactive inverters.

It is estimated that the system will generate over $15,000 in revenue annually, with total return on investment expected by year four.

The system is estimated to produce enough clean energy to prevent more than 1,400 metric tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere, offset 3,289 barrels of oil, and preserve 26 acres of trees over 30 years.

The project was the first feed-in tariff project for both Maui and Sunetric.

“As one of the very first building owners to take advtange of the newly implemented feed-in tariff program, we knew there might be some interesting challenges associated with the project,” says Mark Rodden, owner of ROIZ, LLC. “Sunetric’s staff definitely stepped up to the plate and worked with us to make things go as smoothly as possible. Installing my system was a great investment, and I now have two more feed-in tariff projects in process with Sunetric.”

In addition, Sunetric has helped more than 12 nonprofit organizations to date go solar through its Solar Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) program. This includes Hongwanji Mission School, St. Francis School, Kihei Baptist Church, Waipahu Free Baptist Church, Light House Outreach Church, and Mililani Presbyterian.

---

Building Industry Magazine also featured three Sunetric personnel announcements — Christopher Saunders’ appointment as chief operating officer and the hiring of Bradley Heyen and Henry Marrugo as commercial project managers.