HNL Parking to Be Restricted During Solar Panel Installation

Map of the parking garage entrances, courtesy Hawai‘i DOT.

The Hawai‘i Department of Transportation has scheduled the installation of 2,980 additional energy efficient solar panels on the 5th floor Terminal 2 parking garage at the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL).

The work continues Gov. David Ige and the state’s focus on using 100% renewable energy by 2045.

The construction will begin after the holiday season on Monday, Jan. 7, 2019. Parking will be restricted during construction. To minimize the impact to the traveling public, the parking level will be reopened in phases. The Ewa side of the 5th floor is anticipated to reopen on March 1, 2019. The overall construction is scheduled to be complete by the end of March 2019.

The environmentally friendly improvement will capture solar energy to be used throughout the airport and in conjunction with other conservation measures will reduce the airport’s electric bill by nearly half. The overall $207 million investment in sustainability will generate more than $600 million in guaranteed cost savings over the 20-year life of the contract at Hawaii’s airports, which began in 2014. It is the largest single state Energy Savings Performance Contract in the nation. The $207 million is financed from the guaranteed energy savings, not taxpayer funding.

In total at Hawai‘i’s airports, HDOT and Johnson Controls Inc. are replacing nearly 98,000 light fixtures with high-efficiency light-emitting diode (LED) technology and energy efficient lighting, upgrading ventilation and air-conditioning systems and installing more than 24,000 solar photovoltaic panels.

In addition, the new solar canopy will provide shaded parking for vehicles on the 5th floor of the Terminal 2 (formerly known as the Overseas Terminal) parking garage.

In total, the Terminal 2 parking garage currently has nearly 1,200 parking stalls available to the public. The 5th floor level has 410 parking stalls that will be unavailable at the start of construction. Signage has been posted at the parking stalls, stairs and ticket entrances notifying motorists of the planned work.

On Nov. 16, 2018, HDOT completed the installation of 4,260 new solar panels on the 7th floor of the Terminal 1 parking garage at HNL. All of the nearly 1,800 parking stalls in the Terminal 1 garage are available for public use. The 1,800 stalls in the International parking garage are also available for public parking. For more information on the Terminal 1 parking garage solar panel project click here.

Travelers who plan to park at HNL are reminded the entrance to the Terminal 2 garage is located on the second level. The temporary ground level entrance to Terminal 2 that was opened to accommodate overflow parking during the Terminal 1 construction project will close beginning Jan. 7, 2019. If the Terminal 2 garage is filled, motorists will have to exit the facility and drive around to Terminal 1 or the International garages. Travelers can access the Terminal 1 garage from level 1 and level 2. Access to the International parking garage is on level 1 and as well as from a bridge located on the sixth floor of Terminal 1.

Travelers are encouraged to get dropped off at the airport or schedule another method of transportation. During the busy holiday traveling season passengers are urged to allow extra time to pass through security and arrive at the assigned gate. For an overview on parking at HNL, click here.