EDITORIAL
HECO pause in power plant planning is wise

Hawaiian Electric Co. is taking a fresh look at its long-standing plan to build a new O'ahu power plant at Campbell Industrial Park, according to Staff Writer Frank Cho.

While the primary reason for the second look has been slower than expected growth in demand for power, it is likely that the review is also part of a longer-term review of priorities and objectives by the power company.

If that is so, it is a welcome step as O'ahu moves into the 21st century.

Hawaiian Electric faces a difficult task as it strives to plan, engineer and build for power demands years into the future. As that long process moves forward, both demand and technology change.

In other words, today's planning may not always match up with tomorrow's needs.

Power landscape changing

The landscape of power generation and delivery on O'ahu (and indeed across the country) is quickly changing. For instance, the Legislature last year approved a limited experiment in "net metering" in which individual businesses or households that produce excess power can "turn it back" to the grid, thus saving money and diminishing the need for centrally produced power.

This experiment is still very much in its infancy and may or may not turn out to be economically and environmentally viable. But if it does, it will have long-range implications on power generation and supply patterns.

Hawaiian Electric itself has had a major impact on the decline in demand with an aggressive program in support of solar water heating and a somewhat less advanced photovoltaic program. This, plus public education on the wise use of power, is part of a long-term "demand-side management" effort.

Further out on the horizon is the exciting potential of hydrogen fuel cell technology. Hawaiian Electric has been active in supporting a prototype fuel cell project here.

May not need plant

The betting is that in the end, O'ahu may need another conventional, centralized, fossil-fuel generating plant. But the odds on that bet get steadily worse as technology improves and use and conservation patterns change.

Hawaiian Electric learned a painful lesson about being in step with the will of the community with its failed effort to put high-voltage wires atop Wa'ahila Ridge in Manoa. What might have made sense from an engineering or financial perspective turned out to be seriously out of touch with the political will of the community.

As it moves ahead on a decision on a new major power plant for this island, you can bet that Hawaiian Electric will want to make sure it does not get ahead of itself or the community it serves.