As gusty winds and heavy rain pummeled Oahu, two of Hawaiian Electric’s larger generating units went offline at the Waiau Power Plant on Monday afternoon, robbing the island’s power system of backup capacity. Meanwhile the cloudy weather also stalled solar energy generation, preventing HECO’s battery energy storage systems from charging to full capacity. The multiple shortfalls caused HECO to implement rolling blackouts around the island on Monday night.

If the need looms again, HECO might take note and issue early calls for cutbacks in power usage. Push alerts to cell phones would also help.