Recent outages may bolster the argument that a new power plant is needed on O'ahu, but Hawaiian Electric Co. still has hurdles to clear before it can proceed with its goal of having a new plant running by mid-2009.

Approval from the Public Utilities Commission is still more than six months away, even if HECO successfully argues its case for a 100-megawatt plant at Campbell Industrial Park.

"If we don't get the plant, we have a severe situation," said HECO spokesman Peter Rosegg. Without it, "blackouts will become a very real fact of life for a long time."

According to Rosegg, the blackouts that left 37,000 Hawai'i residents without power for hours June 1 would have been much shorter or avoidable if a new plant had been in place. "At most, people would have had a very short blackout," he said.

State Consumer Advocate John Cole, a party in the case before the PUC, has yet to decide whether HECO's plans represent the consumer's best interests.

Cole's priority is to make sure that HECO provides reliable power at a fair price, now and in the future. The outages were a good signal that more capacity is needed, he said.

"There's not enough backup to serve customers' needs," he said. "I think there's a need for more generation, but whether (a new plant) is the right way to go, we don't have a position on yet."

HECO's plan for the new plant has been in the works since 2002 and is based on projections that more reserve will be needed by 2009 to provide backup when units need to be maintained, as well as when there are planned or unplanned outages.

According to HECO, the plant would cost $134 million, which the company would like to pass on to its 290,000 customers in 2010, increasing their bills by about $2.38 a month.

That increase, like the plans for the plant, would need approval from the PUC, which acts as a quasijudicial body in these matters, hearing from all sides and delivering a verdict.

A booming economy and accompanying residential, commercial and institutional developments have put more demands on the existing power supply than originally anticipated.

"The economy picked up in 2004 and so has electrical growth. Timely installation of the 2009 generating unit is more important than ever," said Jose Dizon, another HECO spokesman.

More people, as well as more air conditioners, computers, big-screen TVs, cell phone chargers, stereo equipment and refrigerators have increased the demand for power.

Meanwhile, people are less likely to turn these off when they leave the room. "We've lost our conservation ethic, something HECO is trying to revive," Rosegg said.

Cole agrees that more homes eventually will create a demand for more electricity generation. However, he added that a new plant is not the only way to meet projected growth and demand. HECO could help curb energy use, or use smaller units to disperse electricity throughout the system, he said.

He also will be looking into ideas from those opposed to a new plant.

Environmental groups say HECO's plans rely too heavily on fossil fuels.

Life of the Land's Henry Curtis, for instance, argues that the state should be looking to renewable energy strategies such as ocean or wave power.

"We agree with HECO that something needs to be done, but we prefer to find a nonfossil-fuel solution," Curtis said. "There are a number of things that could be done that don't involve the power plant."

While Curtis maintains that these renewable energy sources could provide as much power at the same cost as a new plant, Cole said he is uncertain whether they would be sufficient.

"Certainly those are the types of things I've been interested in looking at, but whether this type of thing can be brought up in the time frame when the growth and demand for energy can be met ... I guess that remains to be seen," he said.

"We definitely want to support the state's policy to promote renewable energy, but we also want to make sure the lights stay on," Cole said.

Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.