UPDATE: No more rolling power outages planned for today
UPDATED 3:42 p.m.
Rolling outages will no longer be necessary on Hawaii Island today after Hawaiian Electric repaired several generators that failed this morning.
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Hawaiian Electric spokeswoman Kristen Okinaka said that more than 25,000 customers experienced power outages ranging from 30 and 60 minutes long this morning between 8:30 a.m. and 11 a.m.
The outages took place throughout the island, including one in downtown Hilo that affected 1,037 customers.
“The good news is, we’ve been able to bring the three turbines back online,” Okinaka said, referring to three combustion turbine units that failed this morning, triggering the need for the outages in order to conserve grid power.
With the generators restored, Okinaka said customers will not need to conserve power this evening.
PREVIOUSLY
Hawaiian Electric will impose rolling outages throughout Hawaii Island today to cover an unexpected loss of grid power.
According to a statement from Hawaiian Electric this morning, the energy provider will initiate a series of 30-minute outages in parts of the island after several of the company’s generators went offline.
Three combustion turbine units unexpectedly tripped offline, while another unit is still under repair. Meanwhile, the island’s largest generator, Hamakua Energy, also is undergoing repairs and is not operating at full capacity.
A generator fire at Hawaiian Electric’s Panaewa Substation is unrelated to the outages, according to the statement.
The outages are intended to “prevent loss of power to an even greater number of customers,” according to the statement, and are placed and timed based on where and when electric demand on the grid needs to be reduced.
Hawaiian Electric did not confirm in its statement whether a one-hour outage in downtown Hilo that impacted 1,037 customers this morning was part of the rolling outages. According to the company’s website, more than 700 customers in Keaukaha and about 1,000 in Pahoa also are without power this morning.
