Hawaiian Electric is asking Hawai‘i Island customers to reduce their electricity throughout today in order to prevent the need for additional rolling outages. Last night, 21,557 customers around the island experienced a 30-minute outage that ran from 8:54 p.m. to 9:59 p.m.

The request for conservation is prompted by the unavailability of several large generators. Hawaiian Electric’s Hill 5 steam unit tripped offline. Its Puna steam unit and CT-1 combustion turbine unit also are under repair. Its Keahole CT-5 unit is expected to return from annual overhaul by the end of April. These units generate about 62 megawatts combined. In addition, independent power producer Hamakua Energy is offline. The island’s largest generator provides up to 60 megawatts to the grid. In addition, wind and solar resources are forecast to be lower than normal.

Last month, Hawaiian Electric urged residential and business customers to conserve energy through the end of April due to the unavailability of several large generators. Conservation helps ensure that enough power is available for all customers, especially between 5 to 9 p.m. when electricity use is highest.

Conservation and rolling outage alerts and updates will be posted on the company’s social media platforms.The Hawai‘i County Civil Defense also will send emergency alerts through local radio and its Everbridge emergency notification system.