HECO offers
Waahila optionsThe company seeks comment
on three alternate routes
using underground lines
After failing to win approval for a controversial power line on Waahila Ridge, Hawaiian Electric Co. wants to hear from the public about three alternative routes.
Discussing alternatives
To explain the alternative routes to a Waahila Ridge power line, Hawaiian Electric Co. will hold three meetings in June, all scheduled from 7 to 9 p.m.:June 23: Filipino Community Center
June 24: Dole Cannery Ballroom
June 25: Hawaii Pacific University, Hawaii Loa Campus, Room No. 101
"Waahila Ridge is no longer being considered for a line," said Robbie Alm, Hawaii Electric senior vice president for public affairs.
The alternative routes to the $31 million project would all be underground, Alm said. But the company did not release any cost projections for the alternative routes.
"We encourage members of the public, especially neighborhood board members to attend one of the meetings," Alm said.
HECO says it needs to build a new transmission line, but is suggesting three alternative routes for the line that would serve as a backup to ensure electrical service and prevent large-scale power failures in case other major lines go down.
The public comment will help HECO determine which recommendation it makes to the state Public Utilities Commission.
Tom Heinrich, with the community group Malama O Manoa, said he was still concerned that HECO hasn't proven its case that the additional transmission line is needed.
Alm, however, contends that the line is needed to ensure reliable electrical service from downtown to Hawaii Kai and from Kahuku to Makapuu Point.
Last June, the state Board of Land and Natural Resources denied HECO's request for a conservation district use permit to build a 138-kilovolt overhead line on Waahila Ridge, dividing Manoa and Palolo valleys.
The line on steel poles 100 feet or higher would have linked the Pukele substation in Palolo Valley to the Kamoku substation in Moiliili, 3.8 miles away.
Community groups such as Life of the Land, the Outdoor Circle and Malama O Manoa had protested the HECO route, saying the line would mar the view and intrude on the area's conservation district. They also argued that the complex would interfere with recreational and cultural activities.
The new proposals call for constructing an underground transmission line.
The first proposal would run 3.6 miles from the HECO Kamoku substation Ewa on Date Street to Kapiolani Boulevard. It would go mauka on Kapiolani, under the H-1 freeway, continuing Koko Head on Waialae Avenue to Palolo Avenue. Going mauka at Palolo Avenue by McDonald's, it would then continue on Palolo and then Ewa onto Carlos Long Street and mauka at Myrtle Street to the Pukele Substation.
The second proposal would require several new underground lines totaling just less than one mile. A 46-kilovolt line would be laid from the Makaloa Substation on Makaloa Street near Amana Street headed Diamond Head to Kalakaua Avenue; then toward Waikiki to Fern Street; then in the Koko Head direction onto Fern, makai on Hauoli Street and Koko Head on Lime Street to the McCully Substation, behind McCully Shopping Center. Short underground lines would also be laid near Date and Pumehana streets, across Date Street in front of the Kamoku Substation and along Winam Avenue from Hoolulu Street to Mooheau Avenue in Kapahulu.
The third proposal would include everything in the second proposal plus an additional 1.9-mile underground line from HECO's Archer Street Substation onto Cooke Street, mauka to King Street, Diamond Head to McCully Street and mauka to Young Street. Also required is installation of a new transformer within the Archer Substation.
