Electrifying Maui County

Lanai's distribution system which served Lanai City and the Lanai Pineapple Plantation was purchased in 1954 and the Lanai City Power Plant was purchased from Castle and Cooke in 1988.

In 1971, the Maalaea Power Plant was built. It is the first energy-efficient combined cycle unit in the Hawaiian Electric family of companies.

In 1980, Maui Electric reaches on agreement with Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company for the purchase of bagasse electric energy equaling approximately 10 percent of Maui Electric's needs.

In 1985, a new system, the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system, to monitor and control the distribution of power on Maui came into operation at mid-year and increased the reliability of service to customers.

With load demand building steadily on Maui, Maui Electric purchased two high speed diesel generators from the Central Intelligence Agency facility in Langley, Virginia, which went into operation in 1987.

Maui Electric contracted with the CH2M Hill consulting firm to digitize its transmission and distribution maps. Through the joint efforts of its Engineering Department and Hawaiian Electric's Mapping Supervisor, Maui Electric was able to make the transition to automated mapping, giving it a flexible and efficient information system capable of supporting the design, operations and management of Maui Electric's transmission and distribution system.