People on Oahu were annoyed by the disruptions in power supply during last week’s storms. That’s no surprise: The utility should have done a better job lowering the risk of the rolling blackouts Oahu encountered during the deluge of rain.
The surprise is that some have cited this as a reason to slow, or even stop, Hawaii’s march toward renewable energy. That would be counterproductive: Hawaii may be in a somewhat uncomfortable transitional phase, in which fallback electricity sources are not quite equal to the task, especially while the traditional power grid itself is under duress.
However, the answer is to accelerate the establishment of those sources — utility-scale projects as well as rooftop solar and other individual solutions — rather than to abandon the campaign.
Additionally, while that effort is still underway, Hawaiian Electric should revisit its schedule of maintenance work so that the grid can be more resilient in the face of unexpected mishaps.
The utility already has recognized this, said Jim Kelly, Hawaiian Electric vice president of government and community relations and corporate communications. Among the problems on Jan. 8 was the convergence of maintenance projects affecting four power plants that day: The company often schedules such work for the winter months, when a drop-off in electricity usage means a lighter load for the grid, Kelly said.
Compounding that, he added, the grid was receiving no production from solar and wind generation, nothing from the 60,000 rooftop solar systems, and H-Power, the garbage-to-energy conversion plant in Kalaeloa, was down due to the weather as well.
At the Waiau Power Plant in Pearl City, two of the six generation units were disabled, one of them by flooding and one unit with a transmission line that suddenly lost its connection to the grid. These losses were key, because combined, the units have capacity to produce 100 megawatts.
Kelly said the utility is reviewing its maintenance scheduling in light of what happened. And he acknowledged the need to “tighten up notification” to cut power usage, warning ratepayers when to expect blackouts.
All that said, there is progress being made on navigating this difficult transitional period, curbing fossil-fuel emissions while building the renewable sources to replace fuels such as coal and oil.
Part of the challenge with conversion to intermittent sources of power, such as solar and wind power, is in storing that electricity so it can be used when the sun and wind energy ebbs.
Kelly pointed to the Kapolei Energy Storage facility that just went online, one with 185 megawatts of total power capacity and capable of providing 565 megawatt-hours of electricity. However, he said, that system could not be fully charged in time to serve as backup and avert the blackouts.
This is a battery bank on 8 acres that will be a
critical asset in managing Oahu’s energy demands.
According to one posted description (www.kapolei
energystorage.com), the system can help replace the AES coal-fired plant that closed in September 2022.
Regardless of what happened in this most recent case, the storage facility is a key improvement. The utility’s pursuit of developers for 15 new renewable
energy projects has promise, too.
Hawaiian Electric is now contemplating replacing turbines at Waiau to those designed for “firm power” sources, most likely biofuels in the near term. Kelly said these fuels are meant only for nighttime or under conditions of low power production, such as the recent storm.
The recent blackouts may mean that some backup firm power is needed, but only if it does not divert
Hawaii from its course toward a clean-energy future.
