How Solar Farms On Mountain Slopes Could Help Hawaii Meet Food Sustainability Goals 6 Building solar farms on steeper slopes would ease competition for land between the renewable energy and agriculture sectors, a new report shows.
A growing number of Oahu solar farms have found homes on hilly terrain and lower mountain slopes instead of planted like crops in neat rows on flat, even fields.
In the works, for example, is a 30-megawatt West Oahu solar project by Virginia-based AES Corp, a sweeping portion of which would be sited on the lower slopes of the southern Waianae Mountains.
As the state strives to grow more food and produce more green energy on an island chain with finite land available for development, competition for land threatens to upset goals to expand the agriculture and renewable energy industries.
