SolarCity has been selected by the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative to build a 14 megawatt solar farm on land owned by Grove Farm Co. 

The $40 million project will include more than 54,000 solar panels that span 67 acres on land near Koloa, according to a KIUC press release. It’s expected to supply about 6 percent of Kauai’s daily energy needs. 

“This is a landmark project for SolarCity and the island of Kauai, which will reduce its oil imports by more than 1 million barrels over its lifetime,” said Jon Yoshimura, director of Government Affairs for SolarCity in Hawai’i. “With its goal to generate 50 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2023, KIUC is setting an example for utilities across the nation.”

Pending the necessary local and state regulatory approvals, KIUC and SolarCity expect to commence construction in July 2013 and bring the project online in 2014, The SolarCity project is one of three solar projects in development by KIUC that together will total 30 megawatts of generation capacity, enough to meet roughly 50 percent of the island’s daytime electricity demand. KIUC has committed to using renewable resources to generate 50 percent of its energy overall by 2023.