Some much-needed help arrived today for the recently beleaguered islandwide power system. The long-awaited solar farm in Dandan, Inarajan is now officially open, providing an additional 25 megawatts of generation capacity for the Guam Power Authority.

It was a warm, breezy day in beautiful southern Guam, as the gentle, rolling landscape of Dandan providing a perfect setting for the launch of the solar farm. There are more than 121,000 individual photovoltaic panels spread out over 160 acres. The farm was built and will be operated by Fortune 500 company NRG, under two 25-year power purchase agreements.

The launch of the facility could not have come at a better time for GPA, which has been struggling to meet demand since the August 31 explosion of the 80-megawatt Cabras 3 and 4 generators.

Hazen Burford, a senior vice president with NRG, told KUAM News, "It kind of exemplifies the fact on how renewable energy can come in and help provide diversity for the generation side of the business."

NRG also says it's good for the environment, for example it will help to avoid nearly 40,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases. GPA says the utility grade solar farm fits its renewable energy goals.

Consolidated Commission on Utilities chairman Joey Duenas says this is just the start, announcing, "We set a goal of a 120 megawatts of renewable energy. This is 25. We set a goal of 120, so it makes it easier for the next guy, because it's lesson learned. "We're looking forward to even more solar and more renewable energy. And this is really a good thing for our people and actually works well with our plans to repower generation with combined cycle units."

Yes, while it welcomes the additional capacity from the solar farm, GPA will still rely heavily on fossil fuel plants. They remain more cost-effective, and more reliable than solar, which for now only provides power when the sun is shining.

But Burford says progress is being made on battery storage technology, a key to greater commercial viability, explaining, "It allows for the uninterruptible power supply through the community, and this is something that's going to really open up the market further for solar, solar energy."