HONOLULU — A top Hawaiian Electric Co. official says the company’s wildfire notification and mitigation efforts are moving forward on several fronts “to give people as much notice as we can.”
Jim Kelly, Hawaiian Electric’s vice president of government and community relations, detailed the company’s recently unveiled Public Safety Power Shutoff, or PSPS, program and other efforts at a Honolulu City Council meeting on Thursday.
“The purpose of this PSPS is probably the most prominent element of our wildfire safety strategy; it’s only one piece of it,” Kelly told the Council’s Committee on Public Safety. “Because we want to make the point that PSPS is really the last line of defense. We want to do a lot of other things before we ever have to get to the point of shutting off the power to keep the public safe.”
On July 1, Hawaiian Electric implemented its PSPS program, which will cut off power to its customers in multiple fire-prone areas throughout the islands when conditions prove too hazardous to life and property.
The state’s largest electrical utility said power shutoffs would mainly occur along O‘ahu’s Waianae Coast and affect about 2,400 customers. Similar power shutoffs on Maui and Hawai‘i island could affect a combined 45,400 customers, the company said.
Those actions will occur on so-called red-flag warning days, as determined by the National Weather Service, when warmer temperatures, lower humidity and stronger winds could produce an increased risk of fire danger.
The PSPS program and the company’s other efforts follow the Aug. 8 Maui wildfires, which destroyed most of Lahaina and killed at least 102 people. Many lawsuits allege that downed electrical lines during a powerful windstorm that day sparked the fire, which the company denies.
As part of its wildfire safety strategy, Kelly noted advanced cameras have been placed on Hawaiian Electric substations.
“These are AI (artificial intelligence) cameras that look for any evidence of a fire starting,” he said. “They can identify smoke at a pretty far distance.”
He added that the cameras are used by utilities in California and across the West. “They’ve been very effective in being a really good early-warning system on any potential wildfires starting,” he said.
He said the company is also putting in weather stations, which are “going to give us more visibility into what is happening in particular areas.” This will include potential trigger data for wind speeds, generally above 45 mph, and relative humidity, generally below 45 percent.
“Again, it’s providing that environment where fire can flourish,” he said.
Hawaiian Electric is also making changes to equipment, including overhead power lines or “covered conductors,” he said. “Or putting insulation on the power lines, so if they did fall down, it’s not falling directly on the ground; they’re insulated. That’s one of the many tactics that we’re looking at employing over the next five years.”
Kelly said residents and businesses that might be impacted would include those located on Oahu’s Leeward Coast, as well as portions of the North Shore.
“We’ve worked to limit the potential impact to the PSPS by putting in devices called ‘sectionalizers,’ which enable us to turn off power in one area but limit the scope of the potential outage,” he said. “So if we really have to do a PSPS it impacts a smaller group of customers.”
As far as notifications to the public in the event of a PSPS, Kelly said, “We want to really try to give people as much notice as we can.
“And we’re aiming for at least 24 hours’ notice,” he said. “To say, ‘Hey, we’re looking at potentially doing a PSPS, get ready, you need to get ready, your own house, your own business, and get ready for it and really pay attention to what kind of notifications that you’re getting.’”
However, he added, “I can’t tell you that it will for sure be 24 hours.”
“It depends on the weather, it depends on the situation,” he said. “Everything we’re doing is about keeping people safe, and if we are erring on the side of safety, and we feel like we need to call a PSPS very quickly, on very short notice, that’s what we’re going to do.”
Kelly said notifications to Hawaiian Electric customers would be delivered to electronic and digital devices including smartphones.
“What happens during the PSPS is you get the notice, power goes out. How long the duration of that is would depend on, obviously, the weather system; it could be hours, it could be days,” he said. “And during that time we’re going to keep people posted on what the situation is, we’re going to over-communicate about the situation.”
“I’ve said all along people are probably not going to be happy about PSPS, but if we have to do one I don’t want anybody to say, ‘I didn’t know anything about this,’” he said.
Kelly noted restoration of power following a PSPS could take time to complete.
“We’ve got to then check all of our equipment and make sure there’s not things lying on the ground, there’s nothing that’s broken, there’s no lines that need to be attached,” he said. “And so that effort can take awhile.”
During Council questioning, Val Okimoto, chair of the Public Safety Committee, asked how Hawaiian Electric would address the needs of those who rely on electricity for use of medical devices for health-related conditions.
Kelly said the utility has been working with the city, including police and fire, to ensure that “people who rely on medical equipment get the notifications.”
“So right now, that’s what we’re focused on, the communication part of it,” he said.
Okimoto also asked about those who do not have or readily use electronic or digital devices — particularly kupuna — to receive such notifications.
“So those people who probably are the ones who will be affected by having medical equipment that they need, how will you get the information to them if they’re not the type to have the smartphone with the apps or push notifications?” she asked.
Kelly asserted that Hawaiian Electric will be physically going out to customers if they’ve not confirmed receipt of electronic information about the power shutoff program.
“Because we’re asking people to confirm the information that we’re giving them,” he said. “And if we haven’t heard back from them we’re going to go out and put door hangers. We may have people going door to door.”
Council member Andria Tupola also asked if Hawaiian Electric “had a plan or any hopes to compensate residents if they are financially affected or have to move out” due to the PSPS outages.
“No, we don’t have any plans to compensate people,” Kelly replied. “We’ve actually gotten quite a few questions about that.”
Still, he said the benefit to the community from Hawaiian Electric’s PSPS program is that it will remove “the potential for an ignition of one of our pieces of equipment to start a wildfire.”
“As we’ve worked with folks on the West Side we’ve come to understand that wildfires are pretty common out there over the last 10 to 15 years, that there have been some pretty big fires … that start back in the valley,” he said. “And we’ve heard some pretty harrowing stories about wildfires back there.”
According to Hawaiian Electric, it’s taking steps to mitigate potential hazards, including advancing its $190 million grid resilience plan to harden against wildfires, hurricanes, tsunamis and flooding, and adapt to climate change.
“Half of this multiyear program is to be paid by the federal government with the other half matched by customers,” the company said.
