State officials said yesterday they hope to have a $27 million power facility running by late 2010 that will allow Honolulu International Airport to remain operational during islandwide blackouts such as the one that darkened O'ahu this past weekend.

"Under normal circumstances, the plant will provide power to everyone, but in an emergency, it will automatically 'island' itself and keep the airport running," said Peter Rosegg, spokesman for the Hawaiian Electric Co. "It's a win-win situation for everyone. We're targeting to have it operational by the third quarter of 2010."

HECO officials also emphasized the power plant under construction at Campbell Industrial Park. That plant should be operational in July. It would be a "black start unit," meaning it could be restarted in minutes and could shave two to four hours off an islandwide restart in case of a huge power failure similar to last weekend's.

"We have small black start units — a couple megawatts. That's why it takes a long time to gear up," said Robbie Alm, HECO executive vice president. "In this case, we'll have a 110-megawatt unit up and running quickly."

All power had been restored on O'ahu yesterday.

Also, Su Shin, of the Board of Water Supply, said all water reservoirs have been replenished.

The state will own the airport power plant, but it will be run by HECO. It will be primarily funded by the state Department of Transportation, with HECO paying for operation and maintenance.

"HECO is wrapping up design, and we anticipate entering construction in a year," said Brennon Morioka, director of the DOT.

NO GUARANTEES

An emergency plant at the airport coupled with HECO's new power plant in Campbell Industrial Park will mitigate the effects of any future disasters, officials said yesterday. However, officials said there is no guarantee that another islandwide blackout won't happen.

"One of the things about an island system, at some point the system moves to protect itself. If we ever fundamentally damage the equipment, that would take weeks or months to get back. At a certain disturbance to the system, the equipment has to be protected so that it can be restarted the next day," he said.

Even though an airport power facility had been discussed for years, the Oct. 15, 2006, earthquakes were a "pretty strong slap in the face," in the push to make the airport power facility a reality, Rosegg said.

Then, this weekend all of HECO's 293,000 customers on O'ahu lost power when a thunderstorm passed through at about 6:30 Friday night. The blackout lasted up to 36 hours in some parts of O'ahu and forced airlines to cancel or delay more than a dozen flights, stranding hundreds of travelers.

An environmental assessment of the power plant was completed in August. It shows that under the present system, the airport gets just 1.7 megawatts of energy during emergency situations compared with its normal peak use operations of 14 megawatts. That means that during emergencies the airport is getting just enough electricity from HECO to maintain only critical operations such as airfield lighting, fire protection systems and the Emergency Operations Center.

"In the event of a blackout like we had this weekend, the plant can run off of fuels that are already at the airport and flights can continue to get in and out," Rosegg said. "It's quite an advanced undertaking and designed for the long term."

INQUIRY CONTINUES

Meanwhile, HECO officials continued their investigation into the cause of the blackout. Findings may be released sometime this week.

Alm said HECO will be conducting assessments of transmission lines that may have been hit by lightning.

"One of the things with lightning is, it can actually hit the wire without any visible signs of it," Alm said. "It can also send a surge of electricity through the wire without leaving any trace on the wire. So we really need to get up close to the wire to run a diagnostic."

State and tourism officials held a brief morning news conference yesterday lauding the public for its cooperation and its calm approach during the power failure.

State tourism liaison Marsha Weinert said lessons learned from the '06 earthquake were used during the weekend blackout.

"The response I've gotten from hotel properties is this emergency was handled so much better than previous ones," she said. "(Sunday) morning, it was back to business as usual, but during the blackout, hotels were putting up boards and signs to let guests know what was going on. The guests appreciated being kept informed."

Weinert said that power generators in Waikiki helped hotels remain functional Friday. During the earthquake, many failed, she said.

"The visitors were calm. They didn't have a lot of complaints," Weinert said. "The last time around, some of the generators didn't work, but now they're making a point of starting them up on a regular basis and maintaining them well."

Morioka said DOT crews are continuing to clean up parts of highways along the North Shore where mudslides and debris have hindered travel. Crews are also on the Big Island working on cleanup from the recent heavy rain.

As for air travel, Morioka said it returned to normal by Saturday morning.

Deputy Adjutant General Gary M. Ishikawa, who oversaw the state's emergency response, praised O'ahu residents as well as police and fire departments, and media, for quick response and for keeping people informed.

"I want to express my aloha," Ishikawa said. "We did a lot better from the earthquake to today."