Keahole Solar Power, which was once part of Sopogy Inc. — the solar energy company founded by Darren Kimura that recently shut down— has canceled its power purchase agreement with Hawaiian Electric.
Sopogy, a US company that develops micro concentrated solar power technologies, has ceased operations, the Pacific Business News said Tuesday citing the firm’s most recent president and CEO David Fernandez.
The company, founded by US investor Darren Kimura in Honolulu, has been inactive for several months now, while Fernandez has returned to US solar panel company SunEdison Inc (NYSE:SUNE). The company’s website is no longer working.
According to the report, Sopogy no longer leases spaces near the Honolulu airport and has abandoned its main office in Belmont, California, where it conducted most of its business. The company had only one project on Hawaii. Last year, it was said to be planning an initial public offering (IPO).
Also on Tuesday, the Pacific Business News said that Keahole Solar Power, which was previously a unit of Sopogy, has scrapped a power purchase agreement (PPA) with utility Hawaiian Electric Co (OTCMKTS:HAWEL) for the 5-MW Kalaeloa Solar One plant in West Oahu. The facility was planned to use concentrating solar panels made by Sopogy.
Keahole Solar Power, which was once part of Sopogy Inc. — the solar energy company founded by Darren Kimura that recently shut down— has canceled its power purchase agreement with Hawaiian Electric Co. for a 5-megawatt solar farm in West Oahu, the state’s largest electric utility confirmed to Pacific Business News.
Peter Rosegg, a spokesman for Hawaiian Electric, told PBN that by mutual agreement, the Kalaeloa Solar One project power purchase agreement was terminated in February.
“The [power purchase agreement] had not been submitted to the [Hawaii] Public Utilties Commission, so no further action was necessary,” he said in an email to PBN.
The project, which would have been developed on Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, was supposed to utilize Sopogy’s solar-concentrating panels.
Keahole Solar Power, which is still an active business that lists KSP Management LLC as its manager, with Duane Ashimine, who is president of Honolulu-based Energy Industries, as a manager, also is the developer of the Holaniku at Keahole Point in Kailua-Kona on the Big Island.
Ashimine did not immediately return messages left by PBN and a number listed for Keahole Solar Power did not work.
Greg Barbour, executive director of the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii, which runs the Hawaii Ocean Science and Technology Park where Holaniku is located, did not immediately respond to messages left by PBN.
Meantime, Kalaeloa Solar Power’s second project planned project in Kalaeloa, a 5-megawatt solar farm adjacent to Kalaeloa Solar One, was acquired by an affiliate of D.E. Shaw Renewable Investments LLC in partnership with Bright Plain Renewable Energy, both headquartered in California.
