Hawaii outage due to sudden shutdowns

• 13 years ago (2010-07-06)
• David Flin

Renewables 751

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Generators at three power plants on Hawaii tripped off-line, triggering the power outage that affected about 63,000 customers on the island, according to a news release from the Hawaii Electric Light Co (HELCO). The company said that generators at Hamakua Energy Partners in Honokaa, HELCO’s Keahole plant, and the HRD wind farm in Hawi unexpectedly went off-line at about 8.37pm on July 4 ^th .

A HELCO spokesman said that the sudden loss of generation led to the automatic shut off of electricity to various locations. Additional generators were started, and power was restored to all customers after the Hamakua Energy Partners and Keahole power plant were returned to service.

HELCO has yet to comment in detail as to how the three separate generators went unexpectedly off-line at the same time.