Isle firm aims to cut cost of laying power lines underground
Putting more power lines underground is an expensive part of a plan by the state’s largest electrical utility to reduce wildfire risk, and that price could come down under an ongoing national effort with a Hawaii connection.
Several endeavors by companies, universities and national labs supported by federal grants, including Hawaii firm Oceanit, are advancing as part of a push from the U.S. Department of Energy to improve aging power grids across the country.
In January, five months after a wind-driven wildfire destroyed most of Lahaina and killed 101 people, the Energy Department announced $34 million in grants disbursed over three years for 12 projects based in 11 states to advance innovative approaches for burying power infrastructure underground.
Local engineering firm Oceanit, in collaboration with the University of Houston Cullen College of Engineering, was selected for a $3.3 million grant that the company intends to use to develop a horizontal tunnel drilling guidance system that senses and avoids obstacles in part by linking “AI- infused” drill heads with information from unmanned aerial drones.
Oceanit aims to cut the cost of traditional underground utility line construction done with trenching, drilling or tunneling by 50% so that on a large scale its envisioned new system would be as cheap as installing and maintaining overhead power lines.
