Cause of power failure investigated
By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer
Hawaiian Electric Co. officials last night were looking into the cause of a major power failure that left thousands of homes and businesses in the dark and snarled traffic.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
The failure began at 2:51 p.m. when AES, the island's largest power generator, went offline. AES is an independent producer that sells electricity to HECO from its Campbell Industrial Park plant.
An islandwide power failure forced T-Mobile in Kaneohe Bay Shopping Center to close early yesterday afternoon.
The First Hawaiian Bank in Kaneohe Bay Shopping Center directed customers to another branch after a generator failure left shoppers in the dark for about 90 minutes.
A short while later the H-Power and Kahe power plants went offline, said HECO spokesman Chuck Freedman. The three plants provide about 30 percent of the island's electricity.
To protect the stability of the system, Freedman said, HECO began "load shedding," a process of systematically disconnecting customers around the island. As many as 40,000 of HECO's 280,000-plus O'ahu customers lost electricity.
Rush hour was a mess because of inoperable traffic lights. Power to most of them was restored by 5 p.m.
But as the island reached the peak demand for power in the evening, the AES and Kahe plants were unable to produce electricity, Freedman said. HECO asked large hotels to conserve energy, but that wasn't enough.
At 6 p.m., HECO again had to shut off electricity to portions of O'ahu, including Makaha, 'Aiea, Kaka'ako, Hawai'i Kai, Kapalama, Pearl City, Waipahu, Pauoa Valley and Mililani. By 7 p.m., the Kahe plant was up and running and power to most communities was restored a half-hour later.
Only about 50 customers in Wai'anae were without power at 9 p.m.
Freedman apologized for the inconvenience. He said an investigation will be done and steps taken to address the problem.
