The Palace Theater, built in downtown Hilo in 1925, is one of the more prominent public buildings constructed in Hawaii in the early 20th century. But this 91-year-old building has just gone very modern and energy efficient. ADVERTISING The Palace
The Palace Theater, built in downtown Hilo in 1925, is one of the more prominent public buildings constructed in Hawaii in the early 20th century. But this 91-year-old building has just gone very modern and energy efficient.
With the flip of the solar switch, the Palace Theater now derives 100 percent of its power needs from the sun. The roof-mounted photovoltaic system, installed by Hilo-based ProVision Solar, consists of 81 high-efficiency SunPower modules with a peak power output of 26.5 kilowatts.
The photovoltaic system will save the Palace Theater an estimated $12,000-$16,000 annually and will prevent more than 700 tons of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere over the course of its lifetime.
With the help of the community and the County Council, the Palace was able to purchase and install this impressive system in time for the June 2016 deadline for Net Metering.
A ceremonial “throwing of the switch” by Palace Executive Director Morgen Bahurinsky was attended by theater board members and county and business leaders who played prominent roles in making the system possible, including Marco Mangelsdorf, owner of ProVision, and Keaka Nelson, also of ProVision, who supervised the whole process from beginning to end; Councilman Aaron Chung and Donn Mende of the county Research and Development Department, who administered the discretionary funding; and board president Wendy Peskin, treasurer Lou Levesque, secretary Hal Glatzer and member Bruce McCutcheon.
Funding for the project was a concerted effort by the Friends of the Palace Theater, individual contributors and various public entities.
“The generous donors in East Hawaii helped us accomplish a great many upgrades including this innovative solar electric system,” Bahurinsky said. “We achieved our goal to fund the photovoltaic system in less than a year.”
“Now on to air conditioning,” Peskin said, of the ongoing fundraising efforts to cool things down at the theater. “We feel that it is imperative that we should restore this centerpiece of Hilo to its former comfort level.”
Peskin and Bahurinsky emphasized that the Hilo community and the County of Hawaii were the reasons the Palace has accomplished this first step.
