Hawaii deep water cable program : phase II-C, task 1, environmental assessment

Abstract

The "action" assessed in this document is installation and operation of a high voltage (300 kV), direct current electrical transmission system capable of transmitting 500 MW of power from the geothermal resource subzones of the Kilauea East Rift Zone of Hawaii to Maui (50 MW) and Oahu. At this level of power transfer, the submarine cable link would satisfy on the order of half of Oahu's demand for electricity. For environmental assessment purposes, a "preferred route" consisting of overland and submarine segments has been defined. The overland segments ("proposed corridor") were identified in a separate 'series of studies using an objective set of constraining criteria which when overlayed provided a means to visually distinguish between areas of higher and lower constraint. The areas of relatively lowest constraint were linked to give the proposed corridors on the three islands.