Hawaiian Electric Makes Significant Progress On Downtown Honolulu, Chinatown Service Upgrades

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Hawaiian Electric Makes Significant Progress On Downtown Honolulu, Chinatown Service Upgrades
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Hawaiian Electric makes significant progress on downtown Honolulu, Chinatown service upgrades

Underground cable work will impact traffic, parking through year end

Hawaiian Electric has made significant progress upgrading and replacing transformers, underground power cables, protective equipment and other infrastructure as part of a comprehensive, multiyear action plan to improve service to downtown Honolulu and Chinatown.

"Progress on enhancements to the downtown infrastructure has continued steadily, reflecting our commitment to reliability and safety," said Jim Alberts, Hawaiian Electric senior vice president and chief operations officer. "Over the past year, crews have undertaken a range of projects targeting both critical maintenance and long-term upgrades, ensuring that the electrical grid meets the needs of our customers."

Hawaiian Electric began a program for repairs and upgrades of the system serving downtown in 2018. The company accelerated and expanded its plans after a long outage in June 2024 affected thousands of residents and hundreds of businesses. Most of the work is expected to be completed by 2029.

The next phase of work will involve replacement of underground power cables. To minimize impacts to businesses and residents, Hawaiian Electric will perform overnight upgrades of the underground network in Iwilei, Chinatown and downtown Honolulu starting in August and running through late December 2025.

The system reliability project may require temporary lane closures and street parking restrictions along sections of Dillingham Boulevard, Nimitz Highway, South Hotel Street, Bishop Street, Fort Street Mall, Merchant Street, Queen Street, Alakea Street, Richards Street, Punchbowl Street and Beretania Street. Lane closures are expected to impact only one or two roadways at a time.

The exact locations will be determined once crews open the manholes and perform inspections, requiring traffic impacts to change daily. Arrow boards, safety signs and traffic cones will guide motorists around the job sites and 'no parking' barricades will mark restricted zones. There are no planned power outages anticipated but residents may hear the construction work.

The upgrades are part of the first phase of Hawaiian Electric's plan to upgrade the network serving downtown Honolulu and adjacent areas, including Chinatown. By the end of the decade, Hawaiian Electric will have spent about $183 million on grid improvements downtown.

To date, work completed in 2025 includes:

Replaced equipment and made repairs at Iwilei Substation to improve the performance of transformers
Made repairs to extend the useful life of key substation components while new equipment is being ordered
Inspected all 187 manholes
Inspected all 140 vaults and replaced one transformer and protector
Completed engineering and planning to replace a total of four miles of underground cable on two separate circuits.
Replaced one manhole top slab to restore structural integrity

Additional work scheduled for completion in 2025 includes:

Redesign equipment at Iwilei Substation to provide additional space for crews to work safely while performing maintenance.
Complete three planned transformer and protector replacement projects
Complete replacement of a total of 4 miles of underground cable on two separate circuits
Complete two manhole top slab replacement projects
Complete three planned protector replacement projects
Review inspection data to determine future manhole top slab replacement projects
Review inspection data to determine repair vault projects for completion in 2025

Performing maintenance and making upgrades in and around downtown can be challenging because most of the equipment is located underground. Underground crews must operate in cramped conditions close to high voltage cables. In addition, rainfall and water levels that vary with ocean tides can flood manholes used to access underground equipment, which must be pumped dry before crews can work safely. Drivers in the downtown area may experience delays or other traffic impacts while crews conduct this work.

Originally installed in the 1950s and expanded and modified in the 1970s and 1980s, the downtown network consists of miles of underground power cables, running in a complex, interconnected array beneath the streets of downtown Honolulu. The network is designed with multiple redundancies to support reliable service in the central business district, including banks, office towers and government buildings.

About Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO)

Hawaiian Electric serves 95 percent of Hawai‘i’s 1.4 million residents on the islands of Oʻahu, Maui, Hawaiʻi, Lānaʻi and Molokaʻi. Established in 1891, Hawaiian Electric is committed to empowering its customers and communities by providing affordable, reliable, clean and sustainable energy.

COMMUNITY COMMITMENT

Hawaiian Electric Company is dedicated to our community in which we live, work and serve. Rooted in Hawaii and one of the largest companies in the State, Hawaiian Electric takes the concept of malama pono -- to care for and serve -- to heart. The company and our employees have a long tradition of contributing with dollars, time and talent. Corporate citizenship is crucial to Hawaiian Electric's overall business plan because strong communities are essential to the success of the company, our employees and our customers.

Company and employee volunteerism is encouraged and employees volunteer for dozens of non-profits throughout the State. Hawaiian Electric's corporate giving philosophy gives priority to projects that help families, promote education and protect the environment.

The company also sponsors robotics programs and events that promote STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) education and careers.

For nearly a decade, Hawaiian Electric volunteers provided manpower, bucket trucks and ladders to install Christmas lights at the Kaimuki Community Park and playground before the annual Kaimuki Christmas Parade in December, and in 2019 company volunteers repaired the "floating" Christmas tree at Puʻu O Kaimukī Mini Park with new multicolored, energy efficient LED light strands.

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Hawaiian Electric Makes Significant Progress On Downtown Honolulu, Chinatown Service Upgrades

First Friday Hawaii
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