June '26
At this months "Let's Talk Story", special guests from Hawaiian Electric joined to inform the Hawaii Kai community about upcoming repairs, upgrades, and projects.
Hawaiian Electric Sheds Some Light on Hawaii Kai's Power
Representative Joe Gedeon recently hosted a “Let’s Talk Story” community meeting with special guests from Hawaiian Electric. They were able to shed some light on some of the issues going on with Hawaii Kai's grid, and informed the community about their current activity.
Kurt Tsue- Director of Community Relations (Hawaiian Electric)
Kurt Tsue, the Director of Community Relations at Hawaiian Electric, began the conversation by telling the community about Hawaiian Electric's (HECO) current activity in Hawaii Kai. HECO has been working on wildfire system upgrades, and has been addressing the recent light flickering and power outages in the community. Some of these outages are attributed to one of HECO's sub-stations. The discussion about renewable energy was also brought up. Hawaii aims to have 100% renewable energy by 2045. One of the biggest challenges for 100% renewable energy on Oahu is the high power consumption due to high population density and the limitation of land. Solar, although being a more affordable option, takes up a lot of land. Although electricity is important, land space is crucial for other priorities such as infrastructure and agriculture.
Shari Ishikawa- Vice President of Energy Delivery (Hawaiian Electric)
Shari Ishikawa, the Vice President of Energy Delivery at Hawaiian Electric, discusses the power outages that occured in March and February. These outages occured due to a variety of issues, such as several downed lines, repairs, and updates to the battery and PV systems. These types of outages are not isolated to just Hawaii, but happen in other places such as Australia and California. These issues are prevalent islandwide, but are most noticeable on Oahu's south-east side. Hawaiian Electric is working closely with the manufacturers of the batteries and PV systems to solve the update issues. Besides man-made issues, Hawaii faces many natural issues. Wildfires are big risk residents face, especially in the dryer season. To prevent the risks of wildfires, Hawaiian Electric has been working to harden the system against wildfires, hurricanes, and other elements. Since Hawaii Kai is classified as a "medium" wildfire area, Hawaiian Electric plans to visit and inspect the poles every 3 years.
Jim Alberts- Senior Vice President of Operations (Hawaiian Electric)
Jim Alberts, Senior Vice President of Operations at Hawaiian Electric and fellow Hawaii Kai Resident, gave some insight into underground power lines, and why they aren't ideal for the mountain side, being expensive and hard to install and maintain. Hawaiian Electric has received approval from the Public Utility Commission to build a new power plant at their Waiau station. This power plan will be a 1.1 billion dollar investment, but will help the grid a lot due to it's fast ramping and ability to stay on as long as needed. This power plant will prioritize using renewable energy. The federal government had originally wanted a wind turbine farm offshore, but the current administration is against it. Although this larger farm does not seem attainable for the next few years, the technology for smaller wind turbines has improved. Wind has a higher capacity factor, and can fill in the gaps that solar cannot.
Representative Joe Gedeon ended the meeting by reminding the community to report any hazards or overgrowth. Vines and albizia trees are the most common types of overgrowth and is prevalent in mountainous regions. HECO's inspection team checks these areas in a 3 year cycle. If you have the means to trim back this overgrowth yourself, that would be a big help. At every HECO substation, there are cameras and detection devices. These cameras help protect the physical safety of the substations, but they can't catch everything. If there is anything at a substation or near an electric pole that doesn't look right, don't be afraid to phone it in. If you spot an outage, use the Hawaiian Electric app to report it, so they can be notified and take proper action to fix that problem.
Thanks to our guests from Hawaiian Electric, the community was educated on the work Hawaiian Electric is doing to strengthen the grid. This will give residents peace of mind that Hawaiian Electric is working their hardest to solve important problems and improve the community. Although not a perfect solution, as black outs will continue to happen from time to time, residents now know why these black-outs are happening and what Hawaiian Electric is doing to fix and limit them.
