Photo: NASA
Patagonia made a big splash in the middle of the Pacific Ocean this month by announcing a $13 million tax equity investment in solar power for Hawaii. They joined forces with a local island-based solar finance company Kina‘ole Capital Partners, LLC to create the new fund — totaling $27 million — that will purchase more than 1,000 rooftop solar energy systems in Hawaii.
Why Hawaii? Well, for starter, homeowners in this particular neck of the woods, the one where Patagonia and KCP are focusing their funds, pay three times the U.S. average price for electricity. Three times. That is 37.7 cents/kWh, in comparison to the US average of 12.31 cents/kWh.
And possibly more of a reason? Currently, renewable energy accounts for only 10 percent of Hawaii’s overall consumption. For the duration of the time that the 1,000 rooftop solar energy systems bought will be utilized, greenhouse gas emissions with be reduced by 153,000 tons of CO2. What does that mean? 153,000 tons of CO2 is the equivalent of 323,000 barrels of oil or 75,000 tons of coal. Still not sure? It is the same as taking 29,000 passenger vehicles off the roads. Smog City (a.k.a. Los Angeles) really needs this as well…
At work. Photo: Patagonia
How is it going to do this? That’s where it gets interesting. The fund is going to effectively employ state and federal tax credits in an concentrated effort to redirect Patagonia’s tax dollars towards the purchase of these solar energy systems. This fund will be available to any and all of the islands’ qualified solar installation companies. Where exactly is Patagonia’s investment coming from? Another good question. Their investment comes from a $20 Million & Change fund they set up back in 2013 for exactly these purposes: to lend a hand in companies’ efforts to address the environmental crisis on our collective hands.
And Patagonia is hoping that this, like their totally awesome Yulex wetsuits, set a positive trend for likeminded companies to follow suit. They’ve even gone so far as to lay out a roadmap for similarly earth-conscious organizations interested in leveraging their tax dollars — for the good of the planet, in hopes of building out an unprecedented network of renewable energy.
Image: Patagonia
