DBEDT NEWS RELEASE: NEW SOLAR-POWERED FACTORY FOR LOW-COST WATER TANKS AND OTHER MOLDED PRODUCTS ARRIVES ON HAWAII ISLAND
Posted on Jan 29, 2021 in Latest News, Newsroom
KAILUA-KONA, HAWAII – The Pure Vitality Laboratory of Hawai‘i Authority’s (NELHA) Hawaiʻi Ocean Science and Expertise (HOST) park is dwelling to the island’s latest manufacturing facility – an outside manufacturing facility that molds massive plastic merchandise utilizing 100% photo voltaic power. Constructed and operated by LightManufacturing, Inc. (LMI), the manufacturing facility makes use of patented expertise to mildew high-capacity water tanks utilizing pollution-free photo voltaic thermal power. The corporate studies the system may mildew aquaculture tanks, street boundaries, kayaks and different merchandise that are usually imported into Hawai‘i.
LMI deployed its gear in mid-October to a one-acre web site on the HOST Park and had the solar-powered manufacturing facility up and operating by December, when the agency molded its first 290-gallon water tank utilizing the facility of the solar and with out burning any fossil fuels. The corporate’s Photo voltaic Rotational Molding system makes use of an array of silent, sun-tracking mirrors known as ‘heliostats’ to mirror greater than 100,000 watts of free photo voltaic warmth straight into the molding chambers. A nationwide chief in solar energy, Hawaiʻi derives almost 16 % of its energy from the solar, in keeping with the Solar Energy Industries Association, and is an ideal surroundings for this breakthrough use of ‘uncooked’ photo voltaic power for business.
Gov. David Ige stated, “Manufacturing is vital to diversifying our financial system away from its dependence on tourism and enhancing the resiliency of our islands. NELHA exhibits that authorities can create the circumstances for modern companies to work with Hawaiʻi’s pure sources in a manner that makes Hawaiʻi higher. LightManufacturing’s innovation with photo voltaic power to fabricate wanted items with out having to ship them right here and finally cut back waste is a crucial step alongside this transition.”
LightManufacturing, Inc. CEO Karl von Kries added that “massive capability, commercial-grade water storage and septic tanks in Hawai‘i are costly for 2 causes: the price of costly imported fossil fuels for conventional on-island molding, or the well-known prices to import cumbersome merchandise from the mainland. By eliminating fossil fuels, we will cut back prices, massively enhance sustainability, and enhance entry for purchasers to vital merchandise like water tanks”.
He added that one in every of LMI’s long-term objectives is to make use of plastic, similar to what washes up on Hawaiʻi seashores that neighborhood teams clear up often, that may in any other case discover its manner into landfills and mildew it into helpful merchandise, thereby addressing one other one in every of Hawai’i island’s challenges with waste. “Now we have some prototype solar-powered plastic recycling methods which present good promise,” says von Kries. With no fossil fuels required for energy, the Photo voltaic Rotational Molding system is designed to make sustainable manufacturing a sensible actuality, particularly as soon as plastic may be sourced from a renewable useful resource.
“We’re excited to host this new containerized expertise undertaking which is definitely deployable on a small footprint. This will likely be LMI’s first facility primarily based on the profitable demonstration web site in California. Its modern use of photo voltaic warmth by sunshine to fabricate necessary objects domestically addresses a number of ongoing Hawai’i Island waste and price challenges.” stated Gregory Barbour, Pure Vitality Laboratory of Hawaiʻi Authority govt director.
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About Pure Vitality Laboratory of Hawaiʻi Authority (NELHA)
NELHA administers the world’s premier power and ocean expertise park. This distinctive master-permitted park is positioned on 870 acres of prime coastal property in Kailua-Kona, Hawaiʻi and provides analysis assist amenities for the event of renewable power and different demonstration tasks that make the most of the distinctive sources discovered on the park. It’s the world’s largest facility that regularly brings ashore top quality, pristine provides of each heat floor and chilly deep seawater 24 hours a day with views to reap financial potentials from the twin temperature seawater supply system and excessive photo voltaic insolation. Tenants positioned in HOST Park work on the pre-commercial, business, analysis and academic ranges. It’s the largest diversified financial growth undertaking within the State and is solely targeted on growing inexperienced financial tasks. Extra info on NELHA may be discovered at nelha.hawaii.gov.
Media Contacts:
Gregory Barbour
Pure Vitality Laboratory of Hawaiʻi Authority
Govt Director
808-542-4622 or [email protected].
Karl von Kries
LightManufacturing Inc.
Chief Govt Officer
(415)796-6475 x 702 or [email protected]
