Power generation stable on Oahu, no blackouts needed

Power generation stable on Oahu, no blackouts needed

Restoration work addressing weather-related outages continues on Oahu, Maui, Hawaii Island

Release Date: 1/9/2024

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HONOLULU, Jan. 9, 2024 - Hawaiian Electric will have sufficient generating capacity to meet customer demand for energy on Oahu tonight and does not anticipate the need to implement rolling outages.

"We thank our customers for their understanding and sincerely apologize for the disruptions they experienced. Our crews and system operators worked hard throughout the night to restore power and reduce the impact of the rolling outages as much as possible," said Darren Pai, Hawaiian Electric spokesperson.

Crews continue to work on restoring power to customers still affected by outages across the island caused by Monday's winds and heavy rains.

Hawaiian Electric yesterday afternoon warned Oahu customers about the possibility of rolling outages and urged them to conserve energy after two large generating units at Waiau Power Plant went offline. Due to heavy cloud cover and rainy conditions across the island, production from solar energy systems was reduced and battery energy storage systems could not charge to full capacity.

The 30-minute rolling outages started shortly before 8 p.m., after energy produced by wind farms started to fall off significantly. In addition, the output of the H-POWER waste-to-energy plant was reduced, possibly caused by the weather. The blackouts, which affected about 120,000 customers in different areas of the island, ended shortly after 10 p.m.

Customers on other islands also experienced outages caused by the winds and heavy rains:

• Hawaii Island: Approximately 3,800 customers across the island experienced weather-related outages, many caused by falling trees bringing down lines and utility poles. Nearly all customers have been restored. Crews continue to make repairs to downed lines in the Milolii area.
• Maui: Approximately 5,700 customers across Maui experienced outages on Monday and Tuesday. All service has been restored.