HECO urges reduced power usage as rolling Oahu outages expected

Hawaii Electric Co. is urging customers to reduce the use of electricity as rolling outages are expected tonight on Oahu.

The company 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 prompted by a shortage of “reserve generation capacity” after two power 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 Wamanalo

“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.”