MEDIA RELEASE

Hawai‘i Electric Light reports that customers in portions of Hilo, Kea‘au, Puna, Honoka‘a, Kona, South Point, Waikoloa, and Waimea experienced a power interruption this morning.

An estimated 40,800 customers experienced a power interruption at 5:47 a.m. when a generating unit at independent power producer Hāmākua Energy Partners tripped offline unexpectedly followed by a combustion-turbine unit trip at Hawai‘i Electric Light’s Keahole Power Plant while it was responding to the sudden load changes. Automated load-shedding, which is necessary to protect the island’s power grid, operated properly. Alternate generation was started and service to most customers was restored within minutes. The remaining customers were restored by 6:50 a.m. The cause of all unit trips is under investigation.

Follow Hawai‘i Electric Light on Twitter @HIElectricLight for outage information and updates. To report a power outage, please call (808) 969-6666.