Hawaiian Electric will be deploying personnel to aid Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative in recovery efforts to restore power after Hurricane Lowell.
The first Hawaiian Electric team will arrive on Kauaʻi Thursday to assist with damage assessments and to help determine what supplies and equipment is needed. Trucks and other equipment will arrive on a barge on Friday.
Hawaiian Electric’s aid comes after crews have been doing restoration work following Hurricanes Lowell and Lala completed on Oʻahu and Hawaiʻi Island.
“Even though we were still completing repairs after Hurricane Lala, our system held up relatively well after Lowell with less damage, thanks to our resilience investments and coordination with state and county agencies to enable faster restoration,” said Jim Alberts, senior vice president and chief operations officer. “We’re now in the position to provide assistance to our neighbors on Kauaʻi to help accelerate their recovery.”
The last time Hawaiian Electric provided large-scale assistance to Kauaʻi was after Hurricane Iniki in 1992, which devastated the island’s electric grid.
Approximately 30,583 of Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative’s 36,000 member accounts were without power on Wednesday morning, down from about 33,000, after Hurricane Lowell caused significant damage to its transmission and distribution system.
On Tuesday afternoon, the cooperative said it was able to restore 466 members in ‘Ele‘ele and Hanapēpē.
Damage assessment crews completed an initial inspection sweep of the 1,500 miles of transmission lines using helicopter surveillance, drones and on-the-ground inspection.
“We were pleased that some restoration could be made today, but unfortunately the majority of our members remain without power,” said Brad Rockwell, KIUC’s chief of operations.
Approximately 90% of its customers experienced no power during some point of the storm.
The cooperative said Tuesday’s inspections focused on transmission lines, which are the backbone of Kaua‘i’s grid and must be repaired prior to attempting to restore individual distribution circuits.
“Our efforts the next two days will focus on completing these transmission system repairs,” Rockwell said. “If all goes well, we can complete that work and shift to repairing distribution circuits by the end of this week, if not earlier.”
KIUC said it will prioritize restoring power to critical infrastructure and high density population areas.
Prior to the onset of Hurricane Lowell, KIUC brought additional contract tree trimming crews and utility inspection personnel to Kaua‘i. KIUC has executed an agreement with the Western Region Mutual Assistance Agreement, and is in discussions to mobilize supplemental crews and equipment from Hawaiian Electric Company to arrive on island soon.
Based on preliminary inspections, it appears that distribution lines and associated equipment took the biggest hit from Hurricane Lowell, according to Rockwell. Transmission lines and substations also were damaged. There appears to have been no significant damage to KIUC-owned generation units. Information regarding non-KIUC-owned generation facilities is still being gathered.
“We know our members want to know when their power will be restored,” said David Bissell, KIUC’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “However, this is a significant island-wide restoration effort, and we ask for our members’ patience as our crews work restore power.”
KIUC said it will provide daily updates on progress and will share restoration plans and progress on a regular basis. Updates will be provided through KIUC’s website, social media channels and local news media as additional information becomes available.
KIUC has posted an outage map showing the customers most affected here.
Members are urged to stay well away from downed power lines and always assume that any downed line is energized. Downed lines and other electrical hazards should be reported to KIUC or emergency authorities.
