The Hawaiian islands linked with a power cable played a starring role in much of Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s energy plans.
On one level it was a riff on interisland unity, and for your checkbook it was supposed to lower your electric bill because Oahu would get renewable power from plants on the other islands.
Although opposition from neighbor island voters made it too controversial to be included in Abercrombie’s 2010 campaign, soon after taking office, Abercrombie became an evangelist for uniting the islands with a power cable.
Such plans have been around for decades.
They caught new life in 2009 when former Gov. Linda Lingle and Hawaiian Electric announced that energy sustainability plans would power Oahu via windmills on Lanai.
"This agreement can significantly help meet our goal of increasing energy independence for Hawaii by speeding up the addition of a large increment of clean energy onto the Oahu grid," said Lingle.
A lot has changed since then. Lingle is no longer governor, Robbie Alm is no longer the HECO executive vice president leading the wind-energy conversion, and almost no support has developed for wind farms on Lanai.
What has not changed is the status of the cable. It is still not there.
Enter Abercrombie who promised to change that. He pushed ahead with cable in his 2012 State of the State speech.
Saying "there is no legislation more critical to our future," Abercrombie called for new plans to be fast-tracked.
"This integrated grid will provide stable energy prices and equalize rates between the islands, which will benefit all of us," he said.
When the Legislature agreed and passed his cable bill, Abercrombie then started to move on his critics and cable opponents.
Community groups on Oahu, Molokai and Lanai were lumped together with environmentalists who were told by the governor: "opinion that is merely opinion is not going to be good enough."
Neighbor island residents objected to wind farms on their islands that would affect their views, damage cultural sites and encourage development while not doing anything to help their own electric bills.
Despite Abercrombie proselytizing, the idea of uniting Hawaii with an underwater power cable never really caught on.
The state Public Utilities Commission is in the middle of a long investigation of the issue and so far has not come out in support of the $700 million plan.
Then last week HECO came out with its own energy plan. The cable was MIA.
In an interview with Pacific Business News, HECO officials said the cable is not in their plans.
"Based on analysis done, we think we can get sufficient amount of renewables on Oahu," said Shelee Kimura, a HECO vice president.
Henry Curtis, Life of the Land director who closely follows the PUC, said the cable plan is in the background, but not gone.
"It has disappeared as a HECO preferred plan; however, HECO asserts that they would be willing to consider a third-party proposal involving a cable," Curtis said in an email.
What is not to be around for much longer is Abercrombie’s wholehearted support for cable.
None of the candidates for governor have Abercrombie’s enthusiasm for the project.
If elections have consequences, the likely disappearance of an interisland cable is one of the consequences of Abercrombie’s primary election defeat.
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Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.
