This article first appeared on my old blog at http://www.bloglines.com/blog/wsodeman?id=190
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2006/Oct/16/ln/FP610160350.html/?print=on
When two of Oahu’s 13 generators went offline after the second tremor, HECO’s automated systems took down the entire power grid on Oahu.
This was actually a good thing. The system worked as designed, none of the turbines suffered major damage, and power should be restored within 24 hours for most Oahu customers.
As this article points out, that’s much better performance than previous blackouts in large mainland cities. We have to generate all of our own power out here.
Still, I wonder if HECO will look more closely at alternative power sources such as solar and wind. The grid would have gone down anyway, but alternative sources don’t need turbines.
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