Hawaii Electric Co. is urging customers to reduce the use of electricity as rolling outages are expected tonight on Oahu.
HECO said in a statement that it may be forced to turn off power for 30-minute periods across Oahu beginning at 5:30 p.m. today which was prompted by a shortage of “reserve generation capacity” after two power-generating units went offline.
The schedule is listed below:
>> 5:30 to 6 p.m. Pearl City – Waimalu
>> 6 to 6:30 p.m. Majority of Leeward Oahu
>> 6:30 to 7 p.m. Kalihi, Keolu, Kohakapu, Kailua, Waimanalo to Kahala
>> 7:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Nuuanu and School Street area
>> 8 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Hawaii Kai and Waimanalo
“Two large generating units at Waiau Power Plant went offline this afternoon and while assessments and repairs are underway, it is not expected the units will be back online by tonight,” HECO said in a statement. “In addition, due to heavy cloud cover and rainy conditions across the island, production from solar energy systems has been reduced and battery energy storage systems could not charge to full capacity.”
HECO has asked residents and businesses to help by conserving power during the peak electricity use time of 5 to 9 p.m., and postpone heavy usage such as washing clothes, using dryers, running dishwaters and air conditioning. Large commercial customers have also been asked to conserve.
According to HECO, if there is insufficient power to meet demand then “load shedding” or systemically disconnecting customers will begin in different areas across the island. HECO said the targeted emergency outages are needed to avoid widespread outages or damage to the electric system due to an imbalance of power to meet the demand.
“We apologize for the need to take the extraordinary step of initiating outages and we appreciate the patience of everyone who is affected,” said Jim Kelly, vice president of government, community relations and corporate communications for Hawaiian Electric, in a statement. “Faced with a potential generation shortfall, we want to give customers a heads up so they can plan around these brief outages and help conserve power at a critical time. On an island, we’re on our own and there’s no one to call on when our reserve generation runs short.”
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