PUHI — For Dennis Esaki, installation of a sophisticated $120,000 photovoltaic system on his business building in Puhi wasn’t about how fast the system would pay for itself if electric rates went up. It is about how much he’s saving
PUHI — For Dennis Esaki, installation of a sophisticated $120,000 photovoltaic system on his business building in Puhi wasn’t about how fast the system would pay for itself if electric rates went up.
It is about how much he’s saving now, and has saved since the system was installed, he said Friday.
“I’m very happy with this system,” which has paid for over half of itself already in the 65 percent of purchase cost that came back to him as a direct tax credit, said Esaki.
His monthly Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative electric bill for his business building, home of Esaki Surveying and Mapping, Inc., plunged from $1,500 before to $200 after the system was installed, he said. Earlier this year, Esaki resigned from the Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative board of directors.
There are 88 panels on the roof of the building he shares with Mark’s Place restaurant and Contemporary Flavors catering in the Puhi Industrial Park, with room for more panels if necessary.
The control system, in a garage area of the building, features displays that show amounts of carbon dioxide gas not emitted into the atmosphere by fossil fuel saved from having to be burned, and daily and cumulative kilowatt-hour electric generation by the panels.
Before the panels were installed, Esaki had the roof re-shingled, he said. The panels dominate the south-facing roof of the two-story portion of the building. Esaki’s office is on the second floor of the building.
•Paul C. Curtis, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or pcurtis@kauaipubco.com
