ALERT: Hawaiian Electric asks Big Island customers to reduce electricity use

Hawaiian Electric is asking its Big Island customers to reduce their use of electricity tonight because of three major generators being offline.

Customers are asked to reduce their power usage from 5-9 p.m.

Hawaiian Electric’s Hill 5 unit unexpectedly tripped offline Thursday afternoon and two units at the Keahole Power Plant are undergoing annual scheduled maintenance. These units usually supply about 50 megawatts of power. In addition, wind resources are forecast to be low.

Hawaiian Electric is issuing the urgent conservation request because it might not have enough firm generating capacity available to meet the evening peak demand. Energy conservation can help reduce demand so even minimal wind resources might be able to offset any shortfall.

Suggested conservation steps include turning off or reducing use of lights and air conditioners, delaying showers, laundry and dishwashing activities and going out for dinner or minimizing cooking until later in the evening.

Hawaiian Electric is also taking these steps to conserve energy:

• Large commercial customers, including hotels and resorts, have been asked to voluntarily reduce energy use, especially with heavy equipment and air conditioning.
• Maintenance personnel have been placed on standby to address unexpected issues.
• Maximum available output was requested from Puna Geothermal Venture.

By reducing demand, Hawaiian Electric can ensure enough electricity is available and prevent the need to initiate rolling, 30-minute outages. If rolling outages are necessary, Hawaiian Electric will make every effort to use social media to notify customers in the affected areas in advance.

Please check @HIElectricLight on Twitter for updates.