Construction Challenges in Paradise Hawaiian Electric Company—138 kV System Rebuild

Transmission lines across the country are plagued with aging infrastructure and Hawaii is no exception. Replacing the transmission structures on an island is more challenging than just being 2,400 miles from the mainland. This paper details the challenges faced when Hawaiian Electric Company, Ltd. (HECO) and HDR partnered to replace the most critical of the roughly 1,300 138 kV transmission structures on Oahu. This paper highlights how issues with remote access and environmentally and culturally sensitive areas in the mountains of Oahu were addressed using structures designed to be installed using helicopters, how system outage limitations and topographical extremes influenced construction and design sequencing, and how the challenges associated with being isolated from the mainland pool of available labor with similar project experience and specialized construction equipment and materials were overcome. This paper also details how HECO and HDR successfully replaced HECO’s aging transmission grid while developing new strategies to enhance future structure replacements in remote and challenging terrain.