Hawaiian Electric could cut power to nearly 20,000 West Hawaii customers to prevent wildfires this summer.
Starting July 1, Hawaiian Electric will launch its Public Safety Power Shutoff program, which will kill power to areas at high risk of wildfire so that damage to electrical infrastructure doesn’t spark a deadly inferno.
The program will be enacted in certain areas on Hawaii Island, Maui and Oahu. On the Big Island, those areas will be in North Hawaii between Kohala and Waikoloa, in West Hawaii between Kalaoa and Holualoa, and between Maunakea Access Road and Waikii Ranch.
Together, those areas encompass roughly 19,300 Hawaiian Electric customers.
Hawaiian Electric spokesman Darren Pai said the company won’t necessarily cut power to all 19,300 customers at once. Depending on the circumstances, Hawaiian Electric can shut off only certain portions of the grid where the risk is highest.
However, Pai added for the sake of full disclosure that a total shutdown for all of those areas is still possible.
A PSPS will only be activated if weather data indicates a combination of factors conducive to high wildfire risk, such as low humidity, dry vegetation and high winds. In those circumstances, the risk of wind or debris severing an energized power line and scattering sparks to start a wildfire is high.
Shutdowns through the PSPS program will continue as long as hazardous weather conditions persist. Pai said this means outages could vary wildly in duration — some could last mere hours, but if high winds have damaged infrastructure while the power is off, then it will have to be repaired before service can restored, which could extend outages for days.
While Hawaiian Electric will notify the public and emergency response agencies in advance of a PSPS, rapidly changing weather conditions could force Hawaiian Electric to cut power with little to no warning.
Pai said that in the best of circumstances, the company will send notice of a possible shutdown 24 to 48 hours in advance. In that event, he said, affected customers should make sure they have emergency response plans ready.
Customers on life-support systems are therefore urged to prepare contingencies in the event of a PSPS. Such customers can submit a form to Hawaiian Electric at hawaiianelectric.com/PSPS in order to receive direct notifications in advance of a PSPS.
Pai said the PSPS program will be modified in the future based on the results of its first year of operation. He said he hopes the program could actually scale back its affected areas as wildfire risk models are improved.
Meanwhile, other work on Hawaiian Electric’s three-phase Wildfire Safety Strategy currently is underway. While the company has already implemented policy changes including deploying spotters to high-risk areas and killing power in high-risk areas if a fault is detected on a circuit, other changes will include expanding pole and line inspections, replacing certain wood poles with steel poles, increasing vegetation management near power lines and more.
The company also is working on a $190 million grid resilience plan to harden its infrastructure against natural disasters.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
