MEDIA RELEASE

BMW of Hawaii, the state’s premier luxury car dealership, will temporarily take its eyes off the road to look up toward the sun. BMW’s 34-year-old dealership, a longtime anchor of Kailua-Kona, is installing a solar array on its rooftop.

The state-of-the-art system will be designed and installed by Sunetric, the state’s largest locally owned and operated solar company.

BMW of Hawaii will install a 113.8 kW roof-mounted photovoltaic (PV) system at the Kailua-Kona Loloku Street dealership. The solar panels will soak up Kona’s steady, dependable sunshine while generating an estimated $47,536 savings to the dealership per year.

Construction is set to begin in December.

“The $706,000 system includes 495 SunPower 230 W modules and a Solectria 95 kW inverter. The panels will kick off an average of 449kWh of electricity each day which will allow BMW of Hawaii to recoup its investment sometime during its fourth year of operation,” said Dave Felice, Sunetric energy consultant. “Not only is BMW investing in the environment, it’s investing in its own business.”

Sunetric’s CEO Alex Tiller said, “BMW of Hawaii is doing more than installing solar panels. They’re making a bold statement for the environment which will be seen everyday in Kailua-Kona’s tight-knit community.”

Over the next 30 years, BMW’s new system is estimated to prevent approximately 3,858 tons of carbon dioxide emissions from entering Hawaii’s air.

The solar array will offset 91 percent of the dealership’s electrical usage, offsetting 8,198 barrels of oil that would have otherwise been imported to Hawaii and burned to make electricity.

BMW of Hawaii’s use of the solar array is equivalent to saving 66 acres of forest.

Founded in 2004 by Sean and Beth-Ann Mullen, Sunetric is Hawaii’s largest locally owned and operated solar installer. Sunetric specializes in photovoltaic system design and installation.

A SunPower Elite dealer, Sunetric has access to the highest efficiency photo-voltaic panels available and has installed several of the largest photovoltaic systems in Hawaii, including Kona Commons shopping center on the Big Island and Wilcox Memorial Hospital on Kauai.

— Find out more:
www.sunetric.com