Hawaiian Electric seeks approval for power lines

By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer

As Hawaiian Electric Co. renews efforts to build an underground transmission line in Honolulu to back up its power system, the utility faces many of the same challenges levied by critics who objected to a line being built along Wa'ahila Ridge.

HECO says there are critical power concerns from downtown to Hawai'i Kai and on the Windward side of the island, and guarding against blackouts by adding the line is worth the cost, expected to be at least $50 million.

Opponents say the proposed East O'ahu Transmission Project is not needed because the current system is reliable enough, that HECO should develop alternative energy solutions that offer increased efficiency and reduce the overall demand for energy, and the project is too expensive.

The Advertiser asked HECO and its chief opponent, Life of the Land, to detail their arguments for and against the power lines.

Although HECO answered most of the questions, it declined to discuss the expected cost of the project, how much of the cost might be passed on to rate payers, or how either of the two 46,000-volt alternatives can solve reliability concerns. "... We have learned that when you set up a process for public meetings and input, members of the public often resent getting information through 'the media' before the company gives it to them directly, face-to-face," said HECO spokesman Peter Rosegg.

HECO based its answers on a number of in-house reports, outside experts and government agencies that have addressed the reliability of the transmission system and the need for this project.

Henry Curtis, executive director of Life of the Land, provided responses and said they were based on a review of 30 years of engineering reports, Securities and Exchange Commission filings and HECO's annual reports.

Comments have been edited for length:

• The need for the transmission line

Hawaiian Electric: "It might be easy to wait until there is a major outage due to the concerns we believe exist, then say 'we told you so, but you would not listen' and start a costly crash program to offset the possibility of a repeat, as so often happens. But that would be irresponsible and we take very seriously our responsibility to supply reliable power at an affordable cost to our customers. For a utility and its employees, an outage is the nightmare scenario we dread.

"Here's why we are concerned.

"Pukele Substation is 'the most heavily loaded 138 kV substation in the HECO system,' as noted by the PUC.

"Other 'heavily loaded' substations in HECO's system are served by three and in some cases four 138,000-volt lines providing redundancy and security. Only two lines serve Pukele. While many parts of the two lines have been renewed and upgraded, they are substantially 40 years old.

"Pukele Substation supplies all the power to the second largest demand area on O'ahu, after only downtown Honolulu, which is served by its own generating plant and three 138,000-volt lines.

"While every customer is important, realistically we need to be especially cautious about Waikiki, served via the Pukele Substation, our state's main economic engine. A major outage there would be reported around the world, creating a 'third world' image for our main resort area at a time when Hawai'i is positioning itself as a safe, secure domestic destination for relaxation and rejuvenation."

Life of the Land: "The proposed Kamoku-Pukele line is not needed. HECO reported to the PUC that island-wide, annual service reliability for 1998, 1999 and 2000 were the three best years in 22 years. HECO's average service reliability in 2000 was 99.98 percent. HECO noted that outages for Pukele service area customers is similar to other areas.

"HECO makes guaranteed profits based on the amount spent on capital improvement projects. Gold-plating systems with costly capital improvement projects increases profits. However, HECO's system is quite reliable and can be made more reliable with simple solutions."

• Power failures

HECO: "The safety and security of our lives are threatened when the power goes out. Condo and office building elevators stop mid-floor, traffic lights malfunction, security and safety lights may go dark and life-supporting health apparatus may not operate.

"When power is interrupted, day-to-day transactions come to a halt: no lights, computers, faxes, copiers or air-conditioning; no television and only battery-operated radios. Businesses lose customers.

"System blackouts happened on April 9, 1991, and also in 1983 and 1984. In all of these instances, we lost major transmission lines nearly simultaneously. These outages do not occur very often but when they do, they have resulted in long durations when customers are in the dark.

"In the 1991 outage most customers were without power for eight to 12 hours. Businesses closed for the day and although the figure hasn't been formally verified, a newspaper story at the time quoted a leading local economist estimating the impact of that one outage at $60 million.

"The amount businesses pay for electricity may be on the order of 1 percent of what their economic losses are if they have to close their businesses for hours at a time due to an outage."

Life of the Land: "Stone & Webster Management Consultants investigated the 1983 O'ahu island-wide blackout and recommended the use of live-line maintenance. If one line trips (fails), and the second line is undergoing maintenance, the second line is still live and is able to carry the electric load.

"Power Technology (an independent energy consultant) investigated the 1991 island-wide blackout and found that the failure of HECO to fully adopt the Stone & Webster recommendations, including live-line maintenance, were a direct contributing factor in the 1991 blackout. Power Technology told HECO that the assumption should be that 138,000-volt aerial transmission systems can always be done 'hot.' This technique would have reduced the number of outages.

"Stone & Webster also recommended the use of a concept called Distribution Automations. If a given transmission substation goes off-line, electricity from a neighboring transmission substation could be rerouted to the affected area. For the Pukele area, 20 percent of the load could be absorbed by neighboring substations."

• Reliability

HECO: "HECO defines reliability as the availability and continuity of electric service. The East O'ahu Transmission Project will address critical electric power reliability concerns for the area from downtown to Hawai'i Kai and from Kahuku to Makapu'u Point. The area comprises 56 percent of the power demand on O'ahu and includes downtown, the University of Hawai'i at Manoa, Kapi'olani Community College and Waikiki, as well as Windward Community College, Brigham Young University and countless homes and businesses. The impacted area includes Marine Corps Base Hawai'i in Kane'ohe, State Civil Defense Headquarters at Diamond Head, Fort Ruger (Hawai'i National Guard headquarters), the Honolulu Police Department and the Prince Kuhio Federal Building that includes FBI headquarters, all vital to Hawai'i's security needs."

Life of the Land: "At Pukele, the reliability is increasing while the load is decreasing. The Pukele Substation peaked at 240 megawatts in 1986 (25 percent of the island load). By 2000 the load had fallen to 200-205 MW (16.79 percent of the island load).

"Reconfiguring the Ko'olau Substation significantly increased reliability.

"The HECO System Planning Department in 1986 and in 1991 rejected building a third line to Pukele and instead recommended reconfiguring the lines, which would decrease the time it would take to locate line failures, would decrease the time needed to restore lines, and 'reduce the anxiety caused by having only one line to Pukele in service when maintenance is being done on the other.' During the late 1980s, HECO was spending $100 million a year on transmission line upgrades. In 1986 the reconfiguration cost would have been $2.7 million. HECO reconfigured the lines in 1994-95 at a cost of $5 million to $6 million."