Exploring the history of downtown Honolulu’s power plant

Every day on my way to work, I see the deactivated Honolulu Power Plant sitting at the end of Alakea Street in downtown Honolulu, and I often wondered what the inside looked like. At the end of last year, our government and community relations, and corporate communications process area had the opportunity to tour the facility.

Our group gathered in the lobby of our downtown Honolulu offices at Alii Place and walked to the power plant near the Pier 7 waterfront at Aloha Tower. The tour was led by Mike DeCaprio, vice president of power supply, Keith DeBusca, director of generation on Oahu, and David (Dave) Akana, shift supervisor of our Waiau station operations. Dave still occasionally visits Honolulu Power Plant to check on the facility. He worked at the plant before it was deactivated in 2014 as part of our company’s push towards achieving the state’s clean energy goals.

As the tour began, I immediately learned something new. What we refer to as “Honolulu Power Plant” is actually two plants. In 1920, the Alakea Power Plant was built near Pier 7 on the waterfront after an increased demand for power, specifically with the expansion of service to the Waikiki area in mind. As demand for electricity continued to rise, the Leslie A. Hicks Power Plant was added in 1957, located closer to Aloha Tower, and named after a former company president.

Walking through Honolulu Power Plant was like stepping into a time machine. The large industrial space felt abandoned, which was quite eerie. Our group ventured throughout the plant, seeing the old equipment that still filled the control room, and walking through other areas that were completely cleared, with only the echoes of our footsteps to occupy the space.

In one of the areas we explored, there were frames from former boilers. I learned that the boilers were suspended from the ceiling to account for thermal expansion, growing and shrinking depending on temperature. Dave and Mike explained that, if the boilers were on the ground and had to expand upwards, then their own weight would pull it down, making it more susceptible to cracking and failure. The boilers at Waiau and Kahe power plants are also suspended from the ceiling. I enjoyed being in this space because unlike the other dark areas of the power plant, this large room had sunlight beaming in.

Visiting the downtown Honolulu power plant provided myself and our team the unique opportunity to see a glimpse of Hawaiian Electric’s history, understanding that as the island’s population and the use of electric appliances grew, our company grew.

Now, Hawaiian Electric is committed to the state’s goal of 100% renewable energy by 2045. Generation on Oahu is supplied by our Kahe Power Plant in Waianae, and Waiau Power Plant in Pearl City. We also have several generation partners or independent power producers who supply energy through solar and battery storage, wind, and other resources.

What’s in store for the deactivated power plant? The future is still in the works, with the possibility of repurposing the space into something new. It will be exciting to see the development of the next chapter in Honolulu Power Plant’s story.

Learn more about our company history at: hawaiianelectric.com/OurStory