Hagadone recently installed a 433.7-kw solar PV system on its rooftop. With the feed-in tariff program, excess energy will be sold back to HECO at market rates. Photo courtesy Hagadone.

Hagadone Printing Company, which prints most glossy magazines and brochures in Hawaii, has gone solar.

The company installed a 433-7-kW solar PV system on its rooftop, with a total of 1,408 panels spread across 25,000 square feet of existing roof space. That's a pretty large system (RevoluSun did the job).

With a price tag of $2.7 million, the new PV system is expected to power a quarter of the energy used by its administrative and printing operations.

It's also one of the first commercial installations to take advantage of HECO's feed-in tariff program. That means that any excess energy produced by Hagadone will by purchased by HECO at market rate prices.

The system is expected to save Hagadone more than $160,000 in electricity costs in its first year, and to pay for itself in about six years. I would imagine other commercial businesses will follow suit.

Hagadone also offers a carbon offset program in partnership with natureOfficeUSA.